靡不有初,鮮克有終

简 靡不有初,鲜克有终 · 繁 靡不有初,鮮克有終
Mandarin · pinyin mǐ bù yǒu chū , xiǎn kè yǒu zhōng

Meanings

  1. almost everything has a start, but not many things have an end (idiom); don't start sth you can't handle
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Characters in this entry

靡
mí · divide, disperse, scatter
不
bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
有
yǒu · have, own, possess; exist
初
chū · beginning, initial, primary
鮮
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克
kè · gram; overcome; transliteration
終
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鲜
xiān · fresh; delicious; attractive
终
zhōng · end; finally, in the end
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

靡不有初,鮮克有終 · find source passages ↗ · 靡不有初,鲜克有终 · find source passages ↗

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靡不有初,鮮克有終 · mi3 bu4 you3 chu1 , xian3 ke4 you3 zhong1
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 118,078
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record靡不有初,鮮克有終 靡不有初,鲜克有终 [mi3 bu4 you3 chu1 , xian3 ke4 you3 zhong1] /almost everything has a start, but not many things have an end (idiom); don't start sth you can't handle/