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得意忘形

Mandarin · pinyin dé yì wàng xíng

so pleased as to lose one's sense of measure
beside oneself with joy

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Characters in this entry

得: dé · obtain, get, gain, acquire
意: yì · thought, idea, opinion; think
忘: wàng · forget; neglect; miss, omit
形: xíng · form, shape, appearance

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

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Mandarin tones

2–4–4–2 · de2 yi4 wang4 xing2

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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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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

dak1 ji3 mong4 jing4

Cantonese word readings for 得意忘形. 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 get carried away by one's excitement

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

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