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寢食難安

简寝食难安 · 繁寢食難安

Mandarin · pinyin qǐn shí nán ān

(lit.) unable to sleep or eat in peace (idiom)
(fig.) deeply worried or troubled

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Characters in this entry

寢: Look up this written character
食: shí · eat; meal; food; Kangxi radical 184
難: Look up this written character
安: ān · peaceful, tranquil, quiet
寝: qǐn · sleep, rest; bed chamber
难: nán · difficult, arduous, hard; unable

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

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Mandarin tones

3–2–2–1 · qin3 shi2 nan2 an1

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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.

寢食難安 · find source passages ↗ · 寝食难安 · find source passages ↗

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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) extremely worried and troubled

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

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