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斷捨離

简断舍离 · 繁斷捨離

Mandarin · pinyin duàn shě lí

(neologism, attested by 2012) decluttering; minimalism (orthographic borrowing from Japanese 断捨離 "danshari", lit. "forgoing, discarding and letting go")

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斷: Look up this written character
捨: Look up this written character
離: Look up this written character
断: duàn · sever, cut off; interrupt
舍: shě · shè · house, dwelling; dwell, reside
离: lí · rare beast; strange; elegant

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Mandarin tones

4–3–2 · duan4 she3 li2

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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.

斷捨離 · find source passages ↗ · 断舍离 · find source passages ↗

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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.

verb

(neologism, slang) to get rid of things that are no longer needed

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

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