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少見多怪

简少见多怪 · 繁少見多怪

Mandarin · pinyin shǎo jiàn duō guài

(lit.) a person who has seen little of the world will be astonished by certain things (idiom)
(fig.) to be taken aback by sth because of one's lack of sophistication; naive; unworldly

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Characters in this entry

少: shǎo · few, less, inadequate
見: jiàn · see, observe, behold; perceive; Kangxi radical 147
多: duō · much, many; more than, over
怪: guài · strange, unusual, peculiar
见: jiàn · see, observe, behold; perceive

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

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Mandarin tones

3–4–1–4 · shao3 jian4 duo1 guai4

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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.

少見多怪 · find source passages ↗ · 少见多怪 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

siu2 gin3 do1 gwaai3

Cantonese word readings for 少見多怪. 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) to be easily surprised because of ignorance

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

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