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養精蓄銳

简养精蓄锐 · 繁養精蓄銳

Mandarin · pinyin yǎng jīng xù ruì

to preserve and nurture one's spirit (idiom); honing one's strength for the big push

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Characters in this entry

養: yǎng · raise, rear, bring up; support
精: jīng · essence; semen; spirit
蓄: xù · store, save, hoard, gather
銳: Look up this written character
养: yǎng · raise, rear, bring up; support
锐: ruì · sharp, keen, acute, pointed

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

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Mandarin tones

3–1–4–4 · yang3 jing1 xu4 rui4

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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.

養精蓄銳 · find source passages ↗ · 养精蓄锐 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

joeng5 zeng1 cuk1 jeoi6

Cantonese word readings for 養精蓄銳. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

phrase

(idiomatic) to recuperate and build up energy

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

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