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呼之欲出

Mandarin · pinyin hū zhī yù chū

lit. ready to appear at the call (idiom)
fig. on the verge of coming out into the open
(of a person's choice etc) on the point of being disclosed
(of an artistic depiction) vividly portrayed

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Characters in this entry

呼: hū · breathe sigh, exhale; call, shout
之: zhī · marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to
欲: yù · desire, want, long for; intend
出: chū · go out, send out; stand; produce

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

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Mandarin tones

1–1–4–1 · hu1 zhi1 yu4 chu1

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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

fu1 zi1 juk6 ceot1

Cantonese word readings for 呼之欲出. 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

(of artistic depictions) to be vividly portrayed
(idiomatic) to be about to be disclosed or announced

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

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