一寸光阴一寸金

一寸光陰一寸金

yī cùn guāngyīn yī cùn jīn

quotation

Meanings

1 an inch of time is an inch of gold
2 time is as precious as gold
3 every moment is worth its weight

Characters

shade / (here: time)

Examples

HSK 5

老师常对学生说：一寸光阴一寸金，寸金难买寸光阴。

Lǎoshī cháng duì xuésheng shuō: yīcùnguāngyīnyīcùnjīn, cùnjīnnánmǎicùnguāngyīn.

The teacher often tells the students: an inch of time is an inch of gold, and an inch of gold cannot buy an inch of time.

HSK 5

备考期间，一寸光阴一寸金，不能浪费。

Bèi kǎo qījiān, yīcùnguāngyīnyīcùnjīn, bùnéng làngfèi.

During exam prep, every inch of time is worth an inch of gold - none of it can be wasted.

Tips

history

The four-character core comes from Tang poet 王贞白's 《白鹿洞二首》: 读书不觉已春深，一寸光阴一寸金 - 'so absorbed in books I didn't notice spring deepen; an inch of time is an inch of gold.' The Ming-Qing household anthology 《增广贤文》 added its now-inseparable twin 寸金难买寸光阴 ('an inch of gold cannot buy an inch of time').

usage

光阴 (guāngyīn, literally 'light and shade') is a classical word for time. The phrase is one of the first proverbs Chinese children memorize; it appears on countless school walls and notebooks.

Stroke Order

一 yī

寸 cùn

光 guāng

阴 yīn

金 jīn