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三番五次

Mandarin · pinyin sān fān wǔ cì

over and over again (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

三: sān · three
番: fān · to take turns; a turn, a time; to repeat
五: wǔ · five; surname
次: cì · order, sequence; next

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

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Mandarin tones

1–1–3–4 · san1 fan1 wu3 ci4

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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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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

saam1 faan1 ng5 ci3

Cantonese word readings for 三番五次. 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) again and again; time and again

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

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