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孑然一身

Mandarin · pinyin jié rán yī shēn

to be all alone in the world

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Characters in this entry

孑: jié · remaining, left-over; lonely
然: rán · yes, certainly; pledge, promise
一: yī · one; a, an; alone
身: shēn · body; trunk, hull; Kangxi radical 158

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

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Mandarin tones

2–2–1–1 · jie2 ran2 yi1 shen1

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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

diu1 jin4 jat1 san1

Cantonese word readings for 孑然一身. 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) all alone in the world, with no relatives or friends; solitary

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

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