寂寥

Mandarin · pinyin jì liáo

Meanings

  1. (literary) quiet and desolate
  2. lonely
  3. vast and empty
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Characters in this entry

寂
jì · still, silent, quiet; desolate
寥
liáo · few, scarce; empty, deserted
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–2 · ji4 liao2

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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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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

adj

  1. quiet; tranquil; still
  2. open; spacious; empty; void
  3. lonely; lonesome; solitary; desolate

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

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