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天方夜譚

简天方夜谭 · 繁天方夜譚

Mandarin · pinyin tiān fāng yè tán#

fantasy story

Mandarin · pinyin Tiān fāng Yè tán#

The Arabian Nights (classic story)

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Characters in this entry

天: tiān · sky, heaven; god, celestial
方: fāng · a square, rectangle; a region; local
夜: yè · night, dark; in night; by night
譚: Look up this written character
谭: tán · surname

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

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Mandarin tones

1–1–4–2 · tian1 fang1 ye4 tan2

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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.

天方夜譚 · find source passages ↗ · 天方夜谭 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

tin1 fong1 je6 taam4

Cantonese word readings for 天方夜譚. 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

(figurative) cock-and-bull story; fantasy story; absurd idea; nonsense

name

One Thousand and One Nights (also called Arabian Nights)

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

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