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名花有主

Mandarin · pinyin míng huā yǒu zhǔ

(idiom) (of a woman) already taken

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Characters in this entry

名: míng · name, rank, title, position
花: huā · flower; blossoms
有: yǒu · have, own, possess; exist
主: zhǔ · master, chief owner; host; lord

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

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Mandarin tones

2–1–3–3 · ming2 hua1 you3 zhu3

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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.

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

ming4 faa1 jau5 zyu2

Cantonese word readings for 名花有主. 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) the famed beauty has been spoken for; (of a girl, or something precious) to be taken

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

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