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刀不磨要生锈，人不学要落后

dāo bù mó yào shēng xiù , rén bù xué yào luò hòudictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
(proverb) a blade will get rusty if it is not sharpened / a man will fall behind if he doesn't study
Sources & editorial notes

Reference definitions: CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source release 2026-10-27T01:55:52Z. Imported 2026-10-27. Definition wording and meaning order are retained. Recognized pronunciation references are displayed with tone marks; the original source record is available below.

Source record: cd-1458923589b443ac. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

刀不磨要生鏽，人不學要落後 刀不磨要生锈，人不学要落后 [dao1 bu4 mo2 yao4 sheng1 xiu4 , ren2 bu4 xue2 yao4 luo4 hou4] /(proverb) a blade will get rusty if it is not sharpened; a man will fall behind if he doesn't study/

Reference definitions and teaching material have separate provenance.

Reference information

The definitions above are from CC-CEDICT. Examples and usage notes are available on selected entries.

Character information

View the individual characters. Their meanings do not necessarily explain the meaning of the whole word.

Other forms in these source records: 刀不磨要生鏽，人不學要落後

  • 刀
    dāo

    knife / blade / single-edged sword / cutlass (CL:把[bǎ]) / (slang) (loanword) dollar / classifier for sets of one hundred sheets (of paper) / classifier for knife cuts or stabs / (Internet slang) to bargain / to ask for a small discount (esp. on second-hand marketplaces) / (Internet slang) to knife (sb) (often used hyperbolically, as in 想刀他[xiǎng dāo tā] "I could kill him!")

    Dāo

    surname Dao

  • 不
    bù

    no / not so / (bound form) not / un-

  • 磨
    mó

    to rub / to grind / to polish / to sharpen / to wear down / to die out / to waste time / to pester / to insist

    mò

    grindstone / to grind / to turn round

  • 要
    yāo

    (bound form) to demand / to coerce

    yào

    to want / to need / to ask for / will / shall / about to / need to / should / if (same as 要是[yào shi]) / (bound form) important

  • 生
    shēng

    to grow / to give birth / to produce / to be born / to arise / to occur / to light (a fire) / to live / to be alive / life / raw / uncooked / unprocessed / unfamiliar / strange / (bound form) student / person engaged in a field / (bound form) male role in traditional opera / (bound form) life / lifetime / (bound form) means of livelihood / (bound form) very / intensely (as in 生疼[shēng téng]) / (bound form) in a forced manner (as in 生拉硬拽[shēng lā yìng zhuài])

  • 锈
    xiù

    to rust

  • 人
  • 不
    bù

    no / not so / (bound form) not / un-

  • 学
    xué

    to learn / to study / to imitate / science / -ology

  • 要
    yāo

    (bound form) to demand / to coerce

    yào

    to want / to need / to ask for / will / shall / about to / need to / should / if (same as 要是[yào shi]) / (bound form) important

  • 落
    là

    to leave out / to be missing / to leave behind or forget to bring / to lag or fall behind

    lào

    colloquial reading for 落[luò] in certain compounds

    luò

    to fall or drop / (of the sun) to set / (of a tide) to go out / to lower / to decline or sink / to lag or fall behind / to fall onto / to rest with / to get or receive / to write down / whereabouts / settlement

  • 后
    hòu

    empress / queen / (archaic) monarch / ruler / back / behind / rear / afterwards / after / later / post-

    Hòu

    surname Hou

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.