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一纸空文

yī zhǐ kōng wéndictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
a worthless piece of paper (idiom)
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-f5309539c9335405. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

一紙空文 一纸空文 [yi1 zhi3 kong1 wen2] /a worthless piece of paper (idiom)/

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: 一紙空文

  • 一
    yī

    one / single / a (article) / as soon as / entire / whole / all / throughout / "one" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 1) / also pr. [yāo] for greater clarity when spelling out numbers digit by digit

  • 纸
    zhǐ

    paper (CL:張|张[zhāng],沓[dá]) / classifier for documents, letters etc

  • 空
    kōng

    empty / air / sky / in vain

    kòng

    to empty / vacant / unoccupied / space / leisure / free time

  • 文
    wén

    language / culture / writing / formal / literary / gentle / (old) classifier for coins / Kangxi radical 67

    Wén

    surname Wen

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.