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刻骨銘心

简刻骨铭心 · 繁刻骨銘心

Mandarin · pinyin kè gǔ míng xīn

lit. carved in bones and engraved in the heart (idiom)
fig. etched in one's memory
unforgettable

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Characters in this entry

刻: kè · carve, engrave; quarter hour
骨: gǔ · bone; skeleton; frame, framework; Kangxi radical 188
銘: Look up this written character
心: xīn · heart; mind, intelligence; soul; 5th lunar mansion, determinative star α Scorpii (Antares)
铭: míng · inscribe, engrave

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

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Mandarin tones

4–3–2–1 · ke4 gu3 ming2 xin1

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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.

刻骨銘心 · find source passages ↗ · 刻骨铭心 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

hak1 gwat1 ming5 sam1

Cantonese word readings for 刻骨銘心. 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) unforgettable; etched in one's memory

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

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