小心翼翼

xiǎo xīn yì yì

with the greatest care

Character by character

小xiǎo
small

心xīn
heart

翼yì
reverent

他小心翼翼地把花瓶放在桌子上。

He carefully set the vase down on the table.

Tone: neutral.

From the Book of Songs (大雅·大明), where it described King Wen's reverence; now simply 'very carefully'.

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