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面有難色

简面有难色 · 繁面有難色

Mandarin · pinyin miàn yǒu nán sè

to show signs of reluctance or embarrassment

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Characters in this entry

面: miàn · face; surface; plane; side, dimension; Kangxi radical 176
有: yǒu · have, own, possess; exist
難: Look up this written character
色: sè · color, tint, hue, shade; form, body; beauty, desire for beauty; Kangxi radical 139
难: nán · difficult, arduous, hard; unable

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

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Mandarin tones

4–3–2–4 · mian4 you3 nan2 se4

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

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.

面有難色 · find source passages ↗ · 面有难色 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

phrase

(idiomatic) to show reluctance on one's face

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

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