Eon-haeng-il-chi

言

말씀 언

行

다닐 행

一

한 일

致

이를 치

Character by character

Meaning

Words and deeds in agreement.

Origin

A four-character condensation of the Analects’ repeated call to let action lead speech.

How it is used

Praise for someone who keeps promises, or a rebuke for someone who does not.

Hanja言行一致

Simplified言行一致

Korean reading언행일치

Pinyinyán xíng yī zhì

Frequently asked questions

Q. What does Eon-haeng-il-chi mean?

言行一致 · Words and deeds in agreement.

Q. Where does Eon-haeng-il-chi come from?

A four-character condensation of the Analects’ repeated call to let action lead speech.

Q. How is Eon-haeng-il-chi used?

Praise for someone who keeps promises, or a rebuke for someone who does not.

Idioms in the same group

有備無患 Yu-bi-mu-hwanIf you prepare in advance, there is nothing to worry about.易地思之 Yeok-ji-sa-jiThink about it after swapping places with the other person.初志一貫 Cho-ji-il-gwanCarry the resolve you started with all the way through, unchanged.名不虛傳 Myeong-bul-heo-jeonThe reputation was not passed on in vain — it lives up to the name.靑出於藍 Cheong-chul-eo-ramThe blue drawn from the indigo plant is bluer than the plant — the student surpasses the teacher.大器晩成 Dae-gi-man-seongA great vessel takes long to finish — those destined for greatness succeed late.

The idioms used in Korea mix phrases from the Chinese classics with ones coined in Korea. Where an expression is not used in China, the entry says so.