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小別勝新婚

简小别胜新婚 · 繁小別勝新婚

Mandarin · pinyin xiǎo bié shèng xīn hūn

reunion after an absence is sweeter than being newlyweds (idiom)
absence makes the heart grow fonder

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Characters in this entry

小: xiǎo · small, tiny, insignificant
別: Look up this written character
勝: shèng · victory; excel, be better than
新: xīn · new, recent, fresh, modern
婚: hūn · get married; marriage, wedding
别: bié · separate, other; do not
胜: shèng · victory; excel, be better than

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

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Mandarin tones

3–2–4–1–1 · xiao3 bie2 sheng4 xin1 hun1

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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.

小別勝新婚 · find source passages ↗ · 小别胜新婚 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

siu2 bit6 sing3 san1 fan1

Cantonese word readings for 小別勝新婚. 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.

proverb

absence makes the heart grow fonder (said of married couples)

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

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