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師出有名

简师出有名 · 繁師出有名

Mandarin · pinyin shī chū yǒu míng

lit. to have sufficient reason to send troops (idiom)
to do something with good reason
to have just cause

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Characters in this entry

師: shī · teacher, master, specialist; multitude, troops; hexagram ䷆
出: chū · go out, send out; stand; produce
有: yǒu · have, own, possess; exist
名: míng · name, rank, title, position
师: shī · teacher, master, specialist

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

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Mandarin tones

1–1–3–2 · shi1 chu1 you3 ming2

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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.

師出有名 · find source passages ↗ · 师出有名 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

si1 ceot1 jau5 ming4

Cantonese word readings for 師出有名. 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 do something for a good and proper reason

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

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