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善男信女

Mandarin · pinyin shàn nán xìn nǚ

lay practitioners of Buddhism

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Characters in this entry

善: shàn · good, virtuous, charitable, kind
男: nán · male, man; son; baron; surname
信: xìn · trust, believe; letter
女: nǚ · woman, girl; feminine; Kangxi radical 38; 10th lunar mansion, determinative star ε Aquarii (Albali)

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

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Mandarin tones

4–2–4–3 · shan4 nan2 xin4 nu:3

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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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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

sin6 naam4 seon3 neoi5

Cantonese word readings for 善男信女. 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) devotees or followers of Buddhism, later extended to Taoism and other religions

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

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