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望眼欲穿

Mandarin · pinyin wàng yǎn yù chuān

to anxiously await

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Characters in this entry

望: wàng · to look at, look forward; to hope, expect
眼: yǎn · eye; eyelet, hole, opening
欲: yù · desire, want, long for; intend
穿: chuān · penetrate, pierce, drill; wear

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

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Mandarin tones

4–3–4–1 · wang4 yan3 yu4 chuan1

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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 · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

mong6 ngaan5 juk6 cyun1

Cantonese word readings for 望眼欲穿. 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) eagerly looking forward to meeting a dear one; expect to see someone who never comes

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

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