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少年老成

Mandarin · pinyin shào nián lǎo chéng

accomplished though young
lacking youthful vigor

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Characters in this entry

少: shǎo · few, less, inadequate
年: nián · year; new-years; person's age
老: lǎo · old, aged; experienced; Kangxi radical 125
成: chéng · completed, finished, fixed

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

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Mandarin tones

4–2–3–2 · shao4 nian2 lao3 cheng2

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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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Compare dictionary sources 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

siu3 nin4 lou5 sing4

Cantonese word readings for 少年老成. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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