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女大不中留

Mandarin · pinyin nǚ dà bù zhōng liú

when a girl is of age, she must be married off (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

女: nǚ · woman, girl; feminine; Kangxi radical 38; 10th lunar mansion, determinative star ε Aquarii (Albali)
大: dà · big, great, vast, large, high
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
中: zhōng · central; center, middle; in the midst of; hit (target); attain
留: liú · stop, halt; stay, detain, keep

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

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Mandarin tones

3–4–4–1–2 · nu:3 da4 bu4 zhong1 liu2

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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 · 2 Cantonese readings

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

neoi2 daai6 bat1 zung1 lau4 · neoi5 daai6 bat1 zung1 lau4

Cantonese word readings for 女大不中留. 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) a grown daughter cannot be kept unmarried for long

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

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