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孤芳自賞

简孤芳自赏 · 繁孤芳自賞

Mandarin · pinyin gū fāng zì shǎng

lone flower admiring itself (idiom); narcissism
self-love

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Characters in this entry

孤: gū · orphan, fatherless; solitary
芳: fāng · fragrant; virtuous; beautiful
自: zì · self, private, personal; from; Kangxi radical 132
賞: Look up this written character
赏: shǎng · reward, grant, bestow; appreciate

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

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Mandarin tones

1–1–4–3 · gu1 fang1 zi4 shang3

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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.

孤芳自賞 · find source passages ↗ · 孤芳自赏 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

gu1 fong1 zi6 soeng2

Cantonese word readings for 孤芳自賞. 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 be conceited and indulge in self-admiration

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

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