慎終追遠

简 慎终追远 · 繁 慎終追遠
Mandarin · pinyin shèn zhōng zhuī yuǎn

Meanings

  1. to pay careful attention to one's parents' funerary rites
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Characters in this entry

慎
shèn · act with care, be cautious
終
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追
zhuī · pursue, chase after; expel
遠
yuǎn · distant, remote, far; profound
终
zhōng · end; finally, in the end
远
yuǎn · distant, remote, far; profound
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–1–1–3 · shen4 zhong1 zhui1 yuan3

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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.

慎終追遠 · find source passages ↗ · 慎终追远 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

phrase

  1. (idiomatic) to cautiously perform the funeral rituals to deceased parents and sincerely pay homage to them at ceremonies

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

慎終追遠 · shen4 zhong1 zhui1 yuan3
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 43,051
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record慎終追遠 慎终追远 [shen4 zhong1 zhui1 yuan3] /to pay careful attention to one's parents' funerary rites/