細大不捐

Chinese

fine; minutely; thin
fine; minutely; thin; slender
 
big; great; huge
big; great; huge; large; major; wide; deep; oldest; eldest; doctor
 
not; no
to contribute; to donate; tax
to contribute; to donate; tax; to abandon
 
trad. (細大不捐)
simp. (细大不捐)

Etymology

Coined by Han Yu in his An Explication of “Progress in Learning” in the early 9th c.:

細大不捐膏油兀兀先生可謂 [Literary Chinese, trad.]
细大不捐膏油兀兀先生可谓 [Literary Chinese, simp.]
From: c. 812, 韓愈 (Han Yu), 進學解
Tān duō wù dé, xìdàbùjuān; fén gāoyóu yǐ jì guǐ, héng wùwù yǐ qióng nián: xiānshēng zhī yè, kěwèi qín yǐ. [Pinyin]
Yet still you strove and worked for more,
and big or small did all belong;
you burned your oil to stretch the sun's shadow,
tired and weary year after year.
Truly, Sir, of your own studies
it must be said, you've worked hard and long. (Translated by Charles Hartman)

Pronunciation



Rime
Character
Reading # 1/1 1/2 3/3 1/1
Initial () (16) (7) (1) (36)
Final () (39) (25) (60) (78)
Tone (調) Departing (H) Departing (H) Checked (Ø) Level (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open Open Closed Closed
Division () IV I III III
Fanqie
Baxter sejH dajH pjut ywen
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang
/seiH/ /dɑiH/ /pɨut̚/ /jiuᴇn/
Pan
Wuyun
/seiH/ /dɑiH/ /piut̚/ /jʷiɛn/
Shao
Rongfen
/sɛiH/ /dɑiH/ /piuət̚/ /juæn/
Edwin
Pulleyblank
/sɛjH/ /dajH/ /put̚/ /jwian/
Li
Rong
/seiH/ /dɑiH/ /piuət̚/ /iuɛn/
Wang
Li
/sieiH/ /dɑiH/ /pĭuət̚/ /jĭwɛn/
Bernhard
Karlgren
/sieiH/ /dʱɑiH/ /pi̯uət̚/ /i̯wɛn/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex
dài fu yuán
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex
sai3 daai6 fat1 jyun4

Idiom

細大不捐

  1. to abandon nothing, big or small; to take in everything