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三寸不烂之舌

sān cùn bù làn zhī shédictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
to have a silver tongue / to have the gift of the gab
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-be15f75a133141d3. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

三寸不爛之舌 三寸不烂之舌 [san1 cun4 bu4 lan4 zhi1 she2] /to have a silver tongue/to have the gift of the gab/

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: 三寸不爛之舌

  • 三
    sān

    three / 3

    Sān

    surname San

  • 寸
    cùn

    a unit of length / inch / thumb

  • 不
    bù

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

  • 烂
    làn

    soft / mushy / well-cooked and soft / to rot / to decompose / rotten / worn out / chaotic / messy / utterly / thoroughly / crappy / bad

  • 之
    zhī

    (possessive particle, literary equivalent of 的[de]) / him / her / it

  • 舌
    jī

    used in 喇舌[lǎ jī] to transcribe the Taiwanese word for "tongue"

    shé

    tongue

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.