听 其 言 观 其 行

tīng qí yán guān qí xíngdictionary entry

hear what he says and observe what he does (idiom, from Analects) / judge a person not by his words, but by his actions

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-74157cf7989a1d82. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

聽其言觀其行 听其言观其行 [ting1 qi2 yan2 guan1 qi2 xing2] /hear what he says and observe what he does (idiom, from Analects); judge a person not by his words, but by his actions/

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: 聽其言觀其行

听
yǐn
smile (archaic)
tīng
to listen to / to hear / to heed / to obey / a can (loanword from English "tin") / classifier for canned beverages / to let be / to allow (Taiwan pr. [tìng]) / (literary) to administer / to deal with (Taiwan pr. [tìng])
其
qí
his / her / its / their / that / such / it (refers to sth preceding it)
言
yán
words / speech / to say / to talk
观
guān
to look at / to watch / to observe / to behold / to advise / concept / point of view / outlook
guàn
Taoist monastery / palace gate watchtower / platform
Guàn
surname Guan
其
qí
his / her / its / their / that / such / it (refers to sth preceding it)
行
háng
(bound form) row / line / (bound form) line of business / trade / profession / (bound form) commercial firm / (bound form) to rank (first, second etc) among one's siblings (by age) / (in data tables) row / (Tw) column / classifier for rows or lines
héng
used in 道行[dào héng]
xíng
(bound form) to walk / to go / to travel / (literary) trip / journey / visit / (bound form) temporary / makeshift / (bound form) current / in circulation / (bound form) to do / to perform / capable / competent / all right / OK! / will do / behavior / conduct (Taiwan pr. [xìng]) / (literary) about to / soon

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.