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柔腸寸斷

简柔肠寸断 · 繁柔腸寸斷

Mandarin · pinyin róu cháng cùn duàn

lit. to feel as if one's intestines have been cut short
broken-hearted (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

柔: róu · soft; gentle, pliant
腸: Look up this written character
寸: cùn · inch; small, tiny; Kangxi radical 41
斷: Look up this written character
肠: cháng · intestines; emotions; sausage
断: duàn · sever, cut off; interrupt

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

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Mandarin tones

2–2–4–4 · rou2 chang2 cun4 duan4

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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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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(idiomatic) to be heartbroken; to be grief-stricken

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

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