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川流不息

Mandarin · pinyin chuān liú bù xī

the stream flows without stopping (idiom); unending flow

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Characters in this entry

川: chuān · stream, river; flow; boil
流: liú · flow, circulate, drift; class
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
息: xī · rest, put stop to, end, cease

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

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Mandarin tones

1–2–4–1 · chuan1 liu2 bu4 xi1

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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.

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

cyun1 lau4 bat1 sik1

Cantonese word readings for 川流不息. 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

(usually of traffic) flowing past in an endless stream

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

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