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似曾相識

简似曾相识 · 繁似曾相識

Mandarin · pinyin sì céng xiāng shí

déjà vu (the experience of seeing exactly the same situation a second time)
seemingly familiar
apparently already acquainted

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Characters in this entry

似: sì · resemble, similar to; as if, seem
曾: céng · already; sign of past
相: xiāng · mutual, reciprocal, each other
識: Look up this written character
识: shí · shì · recognize, understand, know

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

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Mandarin tones

4–2–1–2 · si4 ceng2 xiang1 shi2

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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.

似曾相識 · find source passages ↗ · 似曾相识 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

ci5 cang4 soeng1 sik1

Cantonese word readings for 似曾相識. 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 seem to have met before; déjà vu

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

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