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回嗔作喜

Mandarin · pinyin huí chēn zuò xǐ

to go from anger to happiness (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

回: huí · return, turn around; a time
嗔: chēn · be angry at, scold, rebuke
作: zuò · make; work; compose, write; act, perform
喜: xǐ · like, love, enjoy; joyful thing

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

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Mandarin tones

2–1–4–3 · hui2 chen1 zuo4 xi3

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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) to become happy from being angry

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

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