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回光返照

Mandarin · pinyin huí guāng fǎn zhào

final radiance of setting sun
fig. dying flash (of lucidity or activity, prior to demise)

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Characters in this entry

回: huí · return, turn around; a time
光: guāng · light, brilliant, shine; only
返: fǎn · return, revert to, restore
照: zhào · shine, illumine, reflect

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

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Mandarin tones

2–1–3–4 · hui2 guang1 fan3 zhao4

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4character links1same-tone record

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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 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

wui4 gwong1 faan2 ziu3

Cantonese word readings for 回光返照. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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