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拭目以待

Mandarin · pinyin shì mù yǐ dài

lit. to wipe one's eyes and wait (idiom); to wait and see

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Characters in this entry

拭: shì · wipe away stains with cloth
目: mù · eye; look, see; division, topic; Kangxi radical 109
以: yǐ · by means of; thereby, therefore; consider as; in order to
待: dài · treat, entertain, receive; wait

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

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Mandarin tones

4–4–3–4 · shi4 mu4 yi3 dai4

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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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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

sik1 muk6 ji5 doi6

Cantonese word readings for 拭目以待. 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 anticipate or wait for something to happen

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

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