DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

空谷足音

Mandarin · pinyin kōng gǔ zú yīn

(lit.) the sound of footsteps in a deserted valley (idiom)
(fig.) sth hard to come by; sth wonderful and rare

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Characters in this entry

空: kōng · empty, hollow, bare, deserted
谷: gǔ · valley, gorge, ravine; Kangxi radical 150
足: zú · foot; attain, satisfy, enough; Kangxi radical 156
音: yīn · sound, tone, pitch, pronunciation; Kangxi radical 180

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

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Mandarin tones

1–3–2–1 · kong1 gu3 zu2 yin1

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Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

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Compare dictionary sources 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

hung1 guk1 zuk1 jam1

Cantonese word readings for 空谷足音. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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