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顆粒無收

简颗粒无收 · 繁顆粒無收

Mandarin · pinyin kē lì wú shōu

not a single grain was reaped (as in a bad harvest year)

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Characters in this entry

顆: Look up this written character
粒: lì · grain; small particle
無: Look up this written character
收: shōu · gather together, collect; harvest
颗: kē · grain, kernel
无: wú · negative, no, not; Kangxi radical 71

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1–4–2–1 · ke1 li4 wu2 shou1

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

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.

顆粒無收 · find source passages ↗ · 颗粒无收 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(idiomatic) to reap nothing

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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