言不及義

Chinese

		to speak; to say; talk to speak; to say; talk; word	to not do something in time; to be too late; to not reach	justice; righteousness; meaning
trad. (言不及義)		言	不及	義
simp. (言不及义)		言	不及	义

Etymology

From the Analects, Book 15 (《論語·衞靈公》):

子曰：「群居終日，言不及義，好行小慧，難矣哉！」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]

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子曰：「群居终日，言不及义，好行小慧，难矣哉！」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

From: The Analects of Confucius, c. 475 – 221 BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

Zǐ yuē: “Qúnjū zhōngrì, yán bùjí yì, hào xíng xiǎohuì, nán yǐ zāi!” [Pinyin]

The Master said, "When a number of people are together, for a whole day, without their conversation turning on righteousness, and when they are fond of carrying out the suggestions of a small shrewdness; theirs is indeed a hard case."

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): yánbùjíyì

  (Zhuyin): ㄧㄢˊ ㄅㄨˋ ㄐㄧˊ ㄧˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): jin⁴ bat¹ kap⁶ ji⁶

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: yánbùjíyì
    • Zhuyin: ㄧㄢˊ ㄅㄨˋ ㄐㄧˊ ㄧˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: yánbùjíyì
    • Wade–Giles: yen²-pu⁴-chi²-i⁴
    • Yale: yán-bù-jí-yì
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: yanbujyiyih
    • Palladius: яньбуцзии (janʹbuczii)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /jɛn³⁵ pu⁵¹ t͡ɕi³⁵ i⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: jin⁴ bat¹ kap⁶ ji⁶
    • Yale: yìhn bāt kahp yih
    • Cantonese Pinyin: jin⁴ bat⁷ kap⁹ ji⁶
    • Guangdong Romanization: yin⁴ bed¹ keb⁶ yi⁶
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /jiːn²¹ pɐt̚⁵ kʰɐp̚² jiː²²/

Idiom

言不及義

1. to never talk about anything serious; to talk frivolously