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名從主人

简名从主人 · 繁名從主人

Mandarin · pinyin míng cóng zhǔ rén

(idiom) to refer to sth by the name its owners use
to refer to a place by the name its inhabitants use (e.g. refer to Seoul as 首爾 Shǒu ěr rather than 漢城 Hàn chéng)

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Characters in this entry

名: míng · name, rank, title, position
從: cóng · from, by, since, whence, through
主: zhǔ · master, chief owner; host; lord
人: rén · man; people; mankind; someone else
从: cóng · from, by, since, whence, through

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

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Mandarin tones

2–2–3–2 · ming2 cong2 zhu3 ren2

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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.

名從主人 · find source passages ↗ · 名从主人 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

ming4 cung4 zyu2 jan4

Cantonese word readings for 名從主人. 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 refer to something by the name its owner refers to it by

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

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