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月下老人

Mandarin · pinyin yuè xià lǎo rén

(Chinese folk religion) the god of matchmaking
(idiom) matchmaker

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Characters in this entry

月: yuè · moon; month; Kangxi radical 74
下: xià · under, underneath, below; down; inferior; bring down
老: lǎo · old, aged; experienced; Kangxi radical 125
人: rén · man; people; mankind; someone else

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

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Mandarin tones

4–4–3–2 · yue4 xia4 lao3 ren2

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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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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

jyut6 haa6 lou5 jan4

Cantonese word readings for 月下老人. 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.

name

(Taoism, mythology) Yue Lao; god of marriage

noun

(figurative) matchmaker; go-between

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

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