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寥寥無幾

简寥寥无几 · 繁寥寥無幾

Mandarin · pinyin liáo liáo wú jǐ

(idiom) very few

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Characters in this entry

寥: liáo · few, scarce; empty, deserted
無: Look up this written character
幾: jǐ · how many? how much?; a few, some
无: wú · negative, no, not; Kangxi radical 71
几: jǐ · small table

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

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Mandarin tones

2–2–2–3 · liao2 liao2 wu2 ji3

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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.

寥寥無幾 · find source passages ↗ · 寥寥无几 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

liu4 liu4 mou4 gei2

Cantonese word readings for 寥寥無幾. 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) very few

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

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