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曇花一現

简昙花一现 · 繁曇花一現

Mandarin · pinyin tán huā yī xiàn

lit. the night-blooming cactus shows once
flash in the pan (idiom)
short-lived

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Characters in this entry

曇: Look up this written character
花: huā · flower; blossoms
一: yī · one; a, an; alone
現: xiàn · appear, manifest, become visible
昙: tán · become cloudy, overcast
现: xiàn · appear, manifest, become visible

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

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Mandarin tones

2–1–1–4 · tan2 hua1 yi1 xian4

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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.

曇花一現 · find source passages ↗ · 昙花一现 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

taam4 faa1 jat1 jin6

Cantonese word readings for 曇花一現. 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) like a flash in the pan; ephemeral; short-lived; not long-term

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

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