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天涯若比鄰

简天涯若比邻 · 繁天涯若比鄰

Mandarin · pinyin tiān yá ruò bǐ lín

far-flung realms as next door (idiom)
close in spirit although far away

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Characters in this entry

天: tiān · sky, heaven; god, celestial
涯: yá · shore, bank, water's edge
若: ruò · if, supposing, assuming; similar
比: bǐ · to compare, liken; comparison; than; hexagram ䷇
鄰: Look up this written character
邻: lín · neighbor; neighborhood

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

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Mandarin tones

1–2–4–3–2 · tian1 ya2 ruo4 bi3 lin2

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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.

天涯若比鄰 · find source passages ↗ · 天涯若比邻 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

tin1 ngaai4 joek6 bei2 leon4

Cantonese word readings for 天涯若比鄰. 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

(simile) to feel a closeness to a friend or loved one despite being separated by a great distance

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

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