DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

家花沒有野花香

简家花没有野花香 · 繁家花沒有野花香

Mandarin · pinyin jiā huā méi yǒu yě huā xiāng

lit. the flowers in one's garden cannot match the fragrance of wild flowers (idiom)
fig. other women seem more attractive than one's own partner
the grass is always greener on the other side

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Characters in this entry

家: jiā · house, home, residence; family
花: huā · flower; blossoms
沒: méi · not, have not, none; to drown, sink
有: yǒu · have, own, possess; exist
野: yě · open country, field; wilderness
香: xiāng · fragrant, sweet-smelling; incense; Kangxi radical 186
没: méi · not, have not, none; drown, sink

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

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Mandarin tones

1–1–2–3–3–1–1 · jia1 hua1 mei2 you3 ye3 hua1 xiang1

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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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