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大眼瞪小眼

Mandarin · pinyin dà yǎn dèng xiǎo yǎn

(idiom) to look at each other, not knowing what to do

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Characters in this entry

大: dà · big, great, vast, large, high
眼: yǎn · eye; eyelet, hole, opening
瞪: dèng · stare at
小: xiǎo · small, tiny, insignificant

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

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Mandarin tones

4–3–4–3–3 · da4 yan3 deng4 xiao3 yan3

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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

daai6 ngaan5 dang6 siu2 ngaan5

Cantonese word readings for 大眼瞪小眼. 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) two people staring at each other; without knowing what to do

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

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