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半老徐娘

Mandarin · pinyin bàn lǎo Xú niáng

middle-aged but still attractive woman
lady of a certain age

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Characters in this entry

半: bàn · half
老: lǎo · old, aged; experienced; Kangxi radical 125
徐: xú · slowly, quietly, calmly; composed, dignified
娘: niáng · mother; young girl; woman; wife

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

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Mandarin tones

4–3–2–2 · ban4 lao3 Xu2 niang2

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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

bun3 lou5 ceoi4 noeng4

Cantonese word readings for 半老徐娘. 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) attractive middle-aged woman

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

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