上善若水 in Chinese

[Show JSON for postprocessed kaikki.org data shown on this page ▼] [Hide JSON for postprocessed kaikki.org data shown on this page ▲]

{
  "etymology_examples": [
    {
      "bold_roman_offsets": [
        [
          0,
          16
        ]
      ],
      "bold_text_offsets": [
        [
          0,
          4
        ]
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "Classical Chinese"
      ],
      "ref": " Dao De Jing",
      "roman": "Shàngshànruòshuǐ, shuǐ shàn lì wànwù ér bùzhēng.",
      "tags": [
        "Pinyin",
        "Traditional-Chinese"
      ],
      "text": "上善若水，水善利萬物而不爭。",
      "type": "quote"
    },
    {
      "bold_roman_offsets": [
        [
          0,
          16
        ]
      ],
      "bold_text_offsets": [
        [
          0,
          4
        ]
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "Classical Chinese"
      ],
      "ref": " Dao De Jing",
      "roman": "Shàngshànruòshuǐ, shuǐ shàn lì wànwù ér bùzhēng.",
      "tags": [
        "Pinyin",
        "Simplified-Chinese"
      ],
      "text": "上善若水，水善利万物而不争。",
      "type": "quote"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "circa 4th century BC"
      },
      "expansion": "[circa 4th century BC]",
      "name": "defdate"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From the Tao Te Ching [circa 4th century BC].",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "zh",
        "2": "idiom"
      },
      "expansion": "上善若水",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Chinese",
  "lang_code": "zh",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Chinese chengyu",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Chinese entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Mandarin chengyu",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "to be perfectly virtuous and benevolent"
      ],
      "id": "en-上善若水-zh-phrase-UKT~jlrR",
      "links": [
        [
          "perfectly",
          "perfectly"
        ],
        [
          "virtuous",
          "virtuous"
        ],
        [
          "benevolent",
          "benevolent"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Tao Te Ching"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Pinyin"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "shàngshànruòshuǐ"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Bopomofo"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "ㄕㄤˋ ㄕㄢˋ ㄖㄨㄛˋ ㄕㄨㄟˇ"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Pinyin"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "shàngshànruòshuǐ"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Bopomofo"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "ㄕㄤˋ ㄕㄢˋ ㄖㄨㄛˋ ㄕㄨㄟˇ"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Tongyong-Pinyin"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "shàngshànruòshuěi"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Wade-Giles"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "shang⁴-shan⁴-jo⁴-shui³"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Yale"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "shàng-shàn-rwò-shwěi"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Gwoyeu-Romatsyh"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "shanqshannruohshoei"
    },
    {
      "roman": "šanšanʹžošuj",
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Palladius"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "шаншаньжошуй"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ʂɑŋ⁵¹⁻⁵³ ʂän⁵¹⁻⁵³ ʐu̯ɔ⁵¹ ʂu̯eɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/",
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Sinological-IPA"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "上善若水"
}

[Show JSON for raw wiktextract data ▼] [Hide JSON for raw wiktextract data ▲]

{
  "etymology_examples": [
    {
      "bold_roman_offsets": [
        [
          0,
          16
        ]
      ],
      "bold_text_offsets": [
        [
          0,
          4
        ]
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "Classical Chinese"
      ],
      "ref": " Dao De Jing",
      "roman": "Shàngshànruòshuǐ, shuǐ shàn lì wànwù ér bùzhēng.",
      "tags": [
        "Pinyin",
        "Traditional-Chinese"
      ],
      "text": "上善若水，水善利萬物而不爭。",
      "type": "quote"
    },
    {
      "bold_roman_offsets": [
        [
          0,
          16
        ]
      ],
      "bold_text_offsets": [
        [
          0,
          4
        ]
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "Classical Chinese"
      ],
      "ref": " Dao De Jing",
      "roman": "Shàngshànruòshuǐ, shuǐ shàn lì wànwù ér bùzhēng.",
      "tags": [
        "Pinyin",
        "Simplified-Chinese"
      ],
      "text": "上善若水，水善利万物而不争。",
      "type": "quote"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "circa 4th century BC"
      },
      "expansion": "[circa 4th century BC]",
      "name": "defdate"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From the Tao Te Ching [circa 4th century BC].",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "zh",
        "2": "idiom"
      },
      "expansion": "上善若水",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Chinese",
  "lang_code": "zh",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Chinese chengyu",
        "Chinese entries with incorrect language header",
        "Chinese idioms",
        "Chinese lemmas",
        "Chinese terms spelled with 上",
        "Chinese terms spelled with 善",
        "Chinese terms spelled with 水",
        "Chinese terms spelled with 若",
        "Chinese terms with IPA pronunciation",
        "Mandarin chengyu",
        "Mandarin idioms",
        "Mandarin lemmas",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "to be perfectly virtuous and benevolent"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "perfectly",
          "perfectly"
        ],
        [
          "virtuous",
          "virtuous"
        ],
        [
          "benevolent",
          "benevolent"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Tao Te Ching"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Pinyin"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "shàngshànruòshuǐ"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Bopomofo"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "ㄕㄤˋ ㄕㄢˋ ㄖㄨㄛˋ ㄕㄨㄟˇ"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Pinyin"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "shàngshànruòshuǐ"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Bopomofo"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "ㄕㄤˋ ㄕㄢˋ ㄖㄨㄛˋ ㄕㄨㄟˇ"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Tongyong-Pinyin"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "shàngshànruòshuěi"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Wade-Giles"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "shang⁴-shan⁴-jo⁴-shui³"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Yale"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "shàng-shàn-rwò-shwěi"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Gwoyeu-Romatsyh"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "shanqshannruohshoei"
    },
    {
      "roman": "šanšanʹžošuj",
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Palladius"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "шаншаньжошуй"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ʂɑŋ⁵¹⁻⁵³ ʂän⁵¹⁻⁵³ ʐu̯ɔ⁵¹ ʂu̯eɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/",
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Sinological-IPA"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "上善若水"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable Chinese dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-08-12 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-08-02 using wiktextract (7cef23e and 3c020d2). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.

"上善若水" meaning in Chinese

Phrase