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.]

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

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

to never talk about anything serious; to talk frivolously