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秀外慧中

Mandarin · pinyin xiù wài huì zhōng

good-looking and intelligent (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

秀: xiù · ear of grain; flowering, luxuriant; refined, elegant, graceful
外: wài · out, outside, external; foreign
慧: huì · bright, intelligent; intelligence
中: zhōng · central; center, middle; in the midst of; hit (target); attain

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–4–4–1 · xiu4 wai4 hui4 zhong1

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Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

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4character links1same-tone record

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

sau3 ngoi6 wai6 zung1

Cantonese word readings for 秀外慧中. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

sau3 ngoi6 wai6 zung1

Pleco · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Word reading; meanings not aligned.

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(usually of a girl) good-looking and intelligent

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack