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愚民

Mandarin · pinyin yú mín

ignorant masses
to keep the people in ignorance

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Characters in this entry

愚: yú · stupid, doltish, foolish
民: mín · people, subjects, citizens

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

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Mandarin tones

2–2 · yu2 min2

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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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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

noun

ignorant people; the ignorant masses

verb

to keep the people ignorant; to stultify the masses; to engage in obscurantism

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

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