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四仰八叉

Mandarin · pinyin sì yǎng bā chā

(idiom) sprawled out on one's back

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Characters in this entry

四: sì · four
仰: yǎng · raise the head to look; look up to, rely on, admire
八: bā · eight; all around, all sides
叉: chā · crotch; fork, prong

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

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Mandarin tones

4–3–1–1 · si4 yang3 ba1 cha1

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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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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

phrase

(idiomatic) sprawled out on one's back

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

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