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天然呆

Mandarin · pinyin tiān rán dāi

(loanword from Japanese "tennen boke") space cadet
muddleheaded

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Characters in this entry

天: tiān · sky, heaven; god, celestial
然: rán · yes, certainly; pledge, promise
呆: dāi · dull; dull-minded, simple, stupid

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

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Mandarin tones

1–2–1 · tian1 ran2 dai1

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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

tin1 jin4 ngoi4

Cantonese word readings for 天然呆. 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.

noun

(ACG) being naturally scatterbrained

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

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