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五湖四海

Mandarin · pinyin wǔ hú sì hǎi

all parts of the country

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Characters in this entry

五: wǔ · five; surname
湖: hú · a lake; Hubei, Hunan; bluish-green
四: sì · four
海: hǎi · sea, ocean; maritime

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

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Mandarin tones

3–2–4–3 · wu3 hu2 si4 hai3

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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

ng5 wu4 sei3 hoi2

Cantonese word readings for 五湖四海. 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) all regions; all corners of the country or world; all places

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

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