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丟人現眼

简丢人现眼 · 繁丟人現眼

Mandarin · pinyin diū rén xiàn yǎn

to make an exhibition of oneself
to be a disgrace

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Characters in this entry

丟: diū · discard, reject, lose
人: rén · man; people; mankind; someone else
現: xiàn · appear, manifest, become visible
眼: yǎn · eye; eyelet, hole, opening
丢: diū · discard
现: xiàn · appear, manifest, become visible

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

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Mandarin tones

1–2–4–3 · diu1 ren2 xian4 yan3

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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.

丟人現眼 · find source passages ↗ · 丢人现眼 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

diu1 jan4 jin6 ngaan5

Cantonese word readings for 丟人現眼. 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) to make a fool of oneself; to make oneself lose face

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

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