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學海無涯

简学海无涯 · 繁學海無涯

Mandarin · pinyin xué hǎi wú yá

sea of learning, no horizon (idiom); no limits to what one still has to learn
ars longa, vita brevis

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Characters in this entry

學: xué · learning, knowledge; school
海: hǎi · sea, ocean; maritime
無: Look up this written character
涯: yá · shore, bank, water's edge
学: xué · learning, knowledge; school
无: wú · negative, no, not; Kangxi radical 71

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

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Mandarin tones

2–3–2–2 · xue2 hai3 wu2 ya2

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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.

學海無涯 · find source passages ↗ · 学海无涯 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

hok6 hoi2 mou4 ngaai4

Cantonese word readings for 學海無涯. 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) knowledge is infinite like a boundless ocean; there is no limits to what one can learn

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

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