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妻離子散

简妻离子散 · 繁妻離子散

Mandarin · pinyin qī lí zǐ sàn

a family wrenched apart (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

妻: qī · wife
離: Look up this written character
子: zǐ · offspring, child; fruit, seed of; first earthly branch
散: sàn · scatter, disperse, break up
离: lí · rare beast; strange; elegant

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

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Mandarin tones

1–2–3–4 · qi1 li2 zi3 san4

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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.

妻離子散 · find source passages ↗ · 妻离子散 · find source passages ↗

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

cai1 lei4 zi2 saan2

Cantonese word readings for 妻離子散. 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) to have one's family dispersed

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

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