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同床異夢

简同床异梦 · 繁同床異夢

Mandarin · pinyin tóng chuáng yì mèng

lit. to share the same bed with different dreams (idiom); ostensible partners with different agendas
strange bedfellows
marital dissension

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Characters in this entry

同: tóng · same, similar; together with
床: chuáng · bed, couch; framework, chassis
異: Look up this written character
夢: Look up this written character
异: yì · different, unusual, strange
梦: mèng · dream; visionary; wishful

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

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Mandarin tones

2–2–4–4 · tong2 chuang2 yi4 meng4

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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.

同床異夢 · find source passages ↗ · 同床异梦 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(of a married couple) to not get along; to be in discord (usually as a result of different goals)
(figurative, of people who live or work together) to have different opinions and plans

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

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