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一寸光阴一寸金

一寸光陰一寸金
yīcùnguāngyīnyīcùnjīn
phrase

Meanings

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

Examples

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: yī cùn guāngyīn yī cùn jīn, cùn jīn nán mǎi cùn guāngyīn.
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.
备考期间，一寸光阴一寸金，不能浪费。
Bèikǎo qījiān, yī cùn guāngyīn yī cùn jīn, bù néng 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 Wang Zhenbai's (王贞白) 《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