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出淤泥而不染

Mandarin · pinyin chū yū ní ér bù rǎn

lit. to grow out of the mud unsullied (idiom)
fig. to be principled and incorruptible

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Characters in this entry

出: chū · go out, send out; stand; produce
淤: yū · mud, sediment; clog up, silt up
泥: ní · mud, mire; earth, clay; plaster
而: ér · and; and then; and yet; but; Kangxi radical 126
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
染: rǎn · dye; be contagious; infect

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

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Mandarin tones

1–1–2–2–4–3 · chu1 yu1 ni2 er2 bu4 ran3

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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

ceot1 jyu1 nai4 ji4 bat1 jim5

Cantonese word readings for 出淤泥而不染. 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 rise out of the ghetto and make something of oneself; to have been in bad surroundings without allowing oneself to be affected by them.

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

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