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清官难断家务事

qīng guān nán duàn jiā wù shìdictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
even an honest and upright official will have difficulty resolving a family dispute (proverb)
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-21c58b867131fac1. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

清官難斷家務事 清官难断家务事 [qing1 guan1 nan2 duan4 jia1 wu4 shi4] /even an honest and upright official will have difficulty resolving a family dispute (proverb)/

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: 清官難斷家務事

  • 清
    qīng

    (of water etc) clear / clean / quiet / still / pure / uncorrupted / clear / distinct / to clear / to settle (accounts)

    Qīng

    Qing (Wade-Giles: Ch'ing) dynasty of China (1644–1911) / surname Qing

  • 官
    guān

    government official / governmental / official / public / organ of the body / CL:個|个[gè]

    Guān

    surname Guan

  • 难
    nán

    difficult (to...) / problem / difficulty / difficult / not good

    nàn

    disaster / distress / to scold

  • 断
    duàn

    to break / to snap / to cut off / to give up or abstain from sth / to judge / (usu. used in the negative) absolutely / definitely / decidedly

  • 家
    jiā

    used in 傢伙|家伙[jiā huo] and 傢俱|家俱[jiā jù] / home / family / (polite) my (sister, uncle etc) / classifier for families or businesses / refers to the philosophical schools of pre-Han China / noun suffix for a specialist in some activity, such as a musician or revolutionary, corresponding to English -ist, -er, -ary or -ian / CL:個|个[gè]

  • 务
    wù

    affair / business / matter / to be engaged in / to attend to / by all means

  • 事
    shì

    matter / thing / item / work / affair / CL:件[jiàn],樁|桩[zhuāng],回[huí]

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.