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啞口無言

简哑口无言 · 繁啞口無言

Mandarin · pinyin yǎ kǒu wú yán

dumbstruck and unable to reply (idiom)
left speechless; at a loss for words

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Characters in this entry

啞: Look up this written character
口: kǒu · mouth; open end; entrance, gate
無: Look up this written character
言: yán · words, speech; speak, say; Kangxi radical 149
哑: yǎ · dumb, mute; become hoarse
无: wú · negative, no, not; Kangxi radical 71

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

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Mandarin tones

3–3–2–2 · ya3 kou3 wu2 yan2

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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.

啞口無言 · find source passages ↗ · 哑口无言 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

aa2 hau2 mou4 jin4

Cantonese word readings for 啞口無言. 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 be speechless in response to being interrogated or refuted

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

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