DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

含飴弄孫

简含饴弄孙 · 繁含飴弄孫

Mandarin · pinyin hán yí nòng sūn

lit. to play with one's grandchildren while eating candy (idiom)
fig. to enjoy a happy and leisurely old age

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

含: hán · hold in mouth; cherish; contain
飴: Look up this written character
弄: nòng · do, play or fiddle with; alley
孫: Look up this written character
饴: yí · sweet-meats; sweet-cakes; syrup
孙: sūn · grandchild, descendent; surname

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

2–2–4–1 · han2 yi2 nong4 sun1

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

4character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

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.

含飴弄孫 · find source passages ↗ · 含饴弄孙 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

phrase

(idiomatic) to enjoy life in old age

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack