Chinese Text Project Dictionary

School of the Military -> The Art of War -> The Use of Spies -> 3

故三軍之事，親莫親于間，賞莫厚于間，事莫密于間，非聖智不能用間，非仁義不能使間，非微妙不能得間之實。	Hence it is that which none in the whole army are more intimate relations to be maintained than with spies. None should be more liberally rewarded. In no other business should greater secrecy be preserved.
微哉，微哉，無所不用間也。	Spies cannot be usefully employed without a certain intuitive sagacity.
間事未發而先聞者，間與所告者皆死。	They cannot be properly managed without benevolence and straightforwardness. Without subtle ingenuity of mind, one cannot make certain of the truth of their reports. Be subtle! be subtle! and use your spies for every kind of business. If a secret piece of news is divulged by a spy before the time is ripe, he must be put to death together with the man to whom the secret was told.

Character	Composition	Variants	Reading	Meaning	Hanyu	Kangxi	Cihai
故	攴+5		gù ㄍㄨˋ	Cause. / State of affairs. / Event, incident. / Plot. / Old. / Past, original. / Death. / On purpose. / Originally. / Hence, thus.	v2,p1453#05	p.469#25	p.601r5c01
三	一+2	叁弎	sān sàn ㄙㄢㄙㄢˋ	three	v1,p0004#03	p.76#05	p.11r2c01
軍	車+2	𡗽军	jūn ㄐㄩㄣ	army, military; soldiers, troops	v5,p3513#02	p.1239#11	p.1297r3c01
之	丿+3	㞢	zhī ㄓ	Towards; go to. / Demonstrative pronoun: this, these. / Third person pronoun: him, her, it. / Auxiliary word: of. / Auxiliary word: used between subject and predicate, cancels independence of a clause. / Auxiliary word: used in a sentence for aesthetic purpose only, no meaning.	v1,p0043#01	p.82#04	p.47r2c02
事	亅+7	亊叓𠭏	shì ㄕˋ	Office, duty. / Job, career. / Things, affairs. / Accident, incident. / Engage (in), pursue. / Serve.	v1,p0023#03	p.85#24	p.58r3c02
親	見+9	𢈥寴𡩁亲	qīn ㄑㄧㄣ	Parents. / Relatives. / Love, favour. / Close, intimate. / Contact, touch. / Personally. / Do oneself.	v6,p3671#12	p.1136#12	p.1230r5c04
莫	艸+7	𦮅䒬𦱴	mò mù ㄇㄛˋ ㄇㄨˋ	do not, is not, can not; negative	v5,p3217#15	p.1035#13	p.1141r3c03
于	二+1	扵於	yú ㄩˊ	Go to, go towards. / Take. / Rim of the mouth of a bell. / A type of plant. / [Onomatopoeia] / Same as 「於(3.1)」 yú ㄩˊ: Preposition: in. / Same as 「於(3.2)」 yú ㄩˊ: Preposition: from or to. / Same as 「於(3.3)」 yú ㄩˊ: Preposition: compared to. / Same as 「於(3.4)」 yú ㄩˊ: Preposition: to, for, towards. / Same as 「於(3.5)」 yú ㄩˊ: Preposition: by (indicating passive tense). / Same as 「於(3.6)」 yú ㄩˊ: Preposition: with, using. / Same as 「於(3.7)」 yú ㄩˊ: Preposition: due to, because of. / Same as 「於(3.8)」 yú ㄩˊ: Preposition: by, according to. / Preposition: for, in place of. / Connective: and. / Auxiliary word: used in a sentence for aesthetic purpose only, no meaning. / Auxiliary word: used in at the end of a sentence to express questioning.	v1,p0004#05	p.86#06	p.63r3c02
間	門+4	閒间	jiān jiàn jiǎn ㄐㄧㄢㄐㄧㄢˋ ㄐㄧㄢˇ	interval, space; place, between	v7,p4288#06	p.1333#01	p.1408r3c01
賞	貝+8	赏	shǎng ㄕㄤˇ	reward, grant, bestow; appreciate	v6,p3647#07	p.1209#19	p.1276r4c01
厚	厂+7	垕𡦩	hòu ㄏㄡˋ	thick; substantial; greatly	v1,p0072#06	p.161#26	p.229r2c02
密	宀+8	宻	mì ㄇㄧˋ	dense, thick, close; intimate	v2,p0940#06	p.288#11	p.424r1c01
非	非+0		fēi ㄈㄟ	Violate, go against (a rule). / Wrong, bad. / Not real, untrue. / Oppose, object to. / Slander, condemn. / Sarcasm, irony. / Absence of, not have. / Adverb: not, is not.	v6,p4086#01	p.1382#11	p.1463r6c02
			fěi ㄈㄟˇ	Same as 「誹(2)」 fěi ㄈㄟˇ: Slander.
聖	耳+7	堊𦕡𠄵圣	shèng ㄕㄥˋ	holy, sacred; sage	v4,p2789#06	p.967#22	p.1082r6c06
智	日+8	𥏼	zhì zhī ㄓˋ ㄓ	wisdom, knowledge, intelligence	v2,p1518#15	p.497#15	p.644r3c02
不	一+3	不𠀚𠙐	bù ㄅㄨˋ	Not have. / To not be. / Negational adverb, used before verbs, adjectives, etc. to indicate negation. / Negational adverb expressing prohibition: do not. / Negational adverb expressing rhetorical question: is not...?	v1,p0011#06	p.76#15	p.30r1c01
			fǒu ㄈㄡˇ	Same as 「否(1.2)」 fǒu ㄈㄡˇ: Adverb used together with an affirmative word, expressing its negative or opposite. / Same as 「否(1.3)」 fǒu ㄈㄡˇ: Adverb used at the end of a question to form a yes-no question.
			fū ㄈㄨ	Sepal of a flower.
			pī ㄆㄧ	Same as 「丕(1)」 pī ㄆㄧ: Large.
			bǐ ㄅㄧˇ	Show disdain for.
能	肉+6		néng ㄋㄥˊ	A type of bear. / Ability, talent. / Man of ability, man of talent. / Able to, competent. / Comply with, be friendly towards. / Encompass, obtain. / To, arrive at. / Then, thus. / Same as 「而(4.3)」 ér ㄦˊ: Connective: if, supposing. / Only, merely. / Even if. / Thus, in this way. / Three-legged turtle.	v3,p2074#01	p.981#16	p.1095r5c02
			nài ㄋㄞˋ	Withstand, endure.
			tái ㄊㄞˊ	Same as 「台(1.1)」 tái ㄊㄞˊ: Name of a celestial body.
			tài ㄊㄞˋ	State, form.
用	用+0	𤰆𠛁	yòng ㄩㄥˋ	use, employ, apply, operate; use	v1,p0097#05	p.755#24	p.908r6c02
仁	人+2	忈忎𡰥	rén ㄖㄣˊ	humaneness, benevolence, kindness	v1,p0107#01	p.91#07
義	羊+7	义	yì ㄧˋ	right conduct, righteousness	v5,p3133#02	p.952#32	p.1071r3c01
使	人+6	𡥐𠭆	shǐ ㄕˇ	Order, send (on a mission). / Cause, make. / Allocate, use. / Indulge in.. / Send as an envoy. / Envoy, messenger. / Connective: if, supposing.	v1,p0145#02	p.101#05	p.101r3c03
微	彳+10		wēi wéi ㄨㄟㄨㄟˊ	small, prefix micro-, trifling	v2,p0837#10	p.370#12	p.517r2c04
妙	女+4	玅	miào ㄇㄧㄠˋ	mysterious, subtle; exquisite	v2,p1030#10	p.256#24	p.380r1c02
得	彳+8	𢔶䙷𢔨	dé ㄉㄜˊ	Get, obtain. / Plunder. / Covet. / Success. / Fitting, appropriate. / Compatible. / Satisfied, pleased. / Possible, can. / Same as 「德(1)」 dé ㄉㄜˊ: Morals, morality. / Same as 「德(3)」 dé ㄉㄜˊ: Reward kindness, thank.	v2,p0828#03	p.367#31	p.513r6c02
實	宀+11	実宲𡾍寔实	shí ㄕˊ	Prosperous, wealthy. / Wealth, possessions. / Goods, supplies. / Full. / Fit into, stuff into. / Fruit, seed. / Result. / Real thing, actual content. / Fact, thing which happened. / True, honest. / Firm, unwavering. / In fact, actually. / Prove, show to be true. / Carry out, implement. / Term in arithmetic for a multiplicand or dividend. / Really, indeed so. / This. / Particle used in a sentence after moving forward the object.	v2,p0952#03	p.291#04	p.427r6c01
哉	口+6	才	zāi ㄗㄞ	Begin, start. / Modal particle expressing exclamation. / Modal particle expressing questioning or a rhetorical question.	v1,p0611#07	p.189#08	p.270r2c01
無	火+8	𣟒𣚨𠘩无橆	wú ㄨˊ	Not have. / Philosophical category referring to absence, non-existence, or vacuity. / Adverb expressing negation: not. / Adverb expressing questioning: or not. / Connective: regardless of. / Connective: even if. / Particle used at the beginning of a sentence, no meaning. / Do not. / Barren, uncultivated.	v3,p2211#15	p.673#26	p.848r2c04
所	戶+4	𢨷	suǒ ㄙㄨㄛˇ	Place. / Location. / A suitable place or location. / Measure word, used for counting buldings. / Used before a verb, creates a noun-like phrase. / If. Mainly used in oaths and curses. / Used together with 為 to indicate the passive tense. / Indicates an approximate number. / Number, number of times. / Meaning.	v3,p2259#01	p.415#16	p.556r1c01
也	乙+2	𠃟匜	yě ㄧㄝˇ	Modal particle used at the end of a sentence, expressing assertion and affirmation. / Modal particle used at the end of a question for emphasis. / Modal particle used at the end of a cause-effect sentence to express explanation. / Modal particle used in the middle of a sentence to express a pause.	v1,p0050#05	p.84#04	p.55r1c01
未	木+1		wèi ㄨㄟˋ	not yet; 8th terrestrial branch	v2,p1150#01	p.509#05	p.665r4c01
發	癶+7	発发	fā fà bō ㄈㄚㄈㄚˋ ㄅㄛ	issue, dispatch, send out, emit	v4,p2761#04	p.784#10	p.925r2c01
而	而+0		ér ㄦˊ	Whiskers. / Like, similar to. / Pronoun: you. / Pronoun: this, like this. / Connective: and, with. / Connective: and, then. / Connective: if, supposing. / Connective: yet, however. / Connective: therefore, hence. / Connective: expresses method or state. / Particle: of. / Expressive particle.	v4,p2810#01	p.961#18	p.1080r2c03
			néng ㄋㄥˊ	Same as 「能(3)」 néng ㄋㄥˊ: Able to, competent. / Same as 「能(2.1)」 néng ㄋㄥˊ: Ability, talent.
先	儿+4		xiān ㄒㄧㄢ	first, former, previous	v1,p0267#02	p.124#05	p.134r3c02
聞	耳+8	𦕁䎽䎹𦖫𥹢闻	wén ㄨㄣˊ	Hear. / Make hear. / Have heard, become aware of. / Knowledge, experience. / Rumour, saying. / Renowned, well-known. / Spread, disseminate.	v7,p4294#12	p.968#11	p.1084r3c01
			wèn ㄨㄣˋ	Reputation, fame. / Same as 「問(2)」 wèn ㄨㄣˋ: Inquire after, give regards to.
者	老+4		zhě ㄓㄜˇ	Pronoun used after verbs, adjectives, etc. in place of a person or thing. / Pronoun used after numbers in place of a thing. / Pronoun used after time or negation to express "when" or "if". / Expressive particle used in a declarative sentence after the subject. / Expressive particle used in a sentence after the subject to express cause or explanation.	v4,p2780#05	p.961#01	p.1080r1c01
			zhuó ㄓㄨㄛˊ	In, located in.
與	臼+8	与𢌱𦦲𠔔	yǔ ㄩˇ	Give. / Follow, go along with. / Comrade, ally. / Association, contact. / Oppose. / Engage [an enemy]. / Approve, consent to. / Help. / Wait. / Preposition indicating passive tense. / Preposition: to, with. / Preposition: with. / Preposition: as. / Preposition: in, on. / Connective: and, with. / Connective: with its ... / Connective: or.	v1,p0251#04	p.1004#13	p.1113r2c03
			yù ㄩˋ	Participate, take part in.
			yǔ ㄩˇ	Interfere in.
			yú ㄩˊ	Auxiliary word: used at the end of a sentence to express questioning , exclamation, or a rhetorical question. / Auxiliary word: used in the middle of a sentence to express a pause.
告	口+4	吿	gào ㄍㄠˋ	tell, announce, inform; accuse	v1,p0589#12	p.181#19
皆	白+4		jiē ㄐㄧㄝ	all, every, everybody	v4,p2647#01	p.786#12	p.735r5c01
死	歹+2	𠑾𣥴	sǐ ㄙˇ	die; dead; death	v2,p1380#06	p.578#22	p.740r6c06

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