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一日三秋

Mandarin · pinyin yī rì sān qiū

a single day apart seems like three seasons (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

一: yī · one; a, an; alone
日: rì · sun; day; daytime
三: sān · three
秋: qiū · autumn, fall; year

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

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Mandarin tones

1–4–1–1 · yi1 ri4 san1 qiu1

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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.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

jat1 jat6 saam1 cau1

Cantonese word readings for 一日三秋. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

phrase

(idiomatic) A single day apart seems like three years.

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

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