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名落孫山

简名落孙山 · 繁名落孫山

Mandarin · pinyin míng luò Sūn Shān

lit. to fall behind Sun Shan 孫山 Sūn Shān (who came last in the imperial examination) (idiom)
fig. to fail an exam
to fall behind (in a competition)

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Characters in this entry

名: míng · name, rank, title, position
落: luò · fall, drop; net income, surplus
孫: Look up this written character
山: shān · mountain, hill, peak
孙: sūn · grandchild, descendent; surname

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

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Mandarin tones

2–4–1–1 · ming2 luo4 Sun1 Shan1

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4character links1source reference

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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.

名落孫山 · find source passages ↗ · 名落孙山 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

ming4 lok6 syun1 saan1

Cantonese word readings for 名落孫山. 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

(figurative) to fail an exam; to fall behind (in a competition)

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

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