日月蹉跎

Mandarin · pinyin rì yuè cuō tuó

Meanings

  1. the years have slipped by
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Characters in this entry

日
rì · sun; day; daytime
月
yuè · moon; month; Kangxi radical 74
蹉
cuō · error, mistake, slip; failure
跎
tuó · slip, stumble, falter; vacillate
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–4–1–2 · ri4 yue4 cuo1 tuo2

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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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