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孤男寡女

Mandarin · pinyin gū nán guǎ nǚ

a single man and a single woman
bachelors
a man and a woman together (typically in a secluded setting)

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Characters in this entry

孤: gū · orphan, fatherless; solitary
男: nán · male, man; son; baron; surname
寡: guǎ · widowed; alone, friendless
女: nǚ · woman, girl; feminine; Kangxi radical 38; 10th lunar mansion, determinative star ε Aquarii (Albali)

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

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Mandarin tones

1–2–3–3 · gu1 nan2 gua3 nu:3

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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

gu1 naam4 gwaa2 neoi5

Cantonese word readings for 孤男寡女. 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 man and a woman are alone in the same place

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

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