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毛骨悚然

Mandarin · pinyin máo gǔ sǒng rán

to have one's hair stand on end (idiom)
to feel one's blood run cold

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Characters in this entry

毛: máo · hair, fur, feathers; coarse
骨: gǔ · bone; skeleton; frame, framework; Kangxi radical 188
悚: sǒng · afraid, scared, frightened
然: rán · yes, certainly; pledge, promise

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

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Mandarin tones

2–3–3–2 · mao2 gu3 song3 ran2

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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

mou4 gwat1 sung2 jin4

Cantonese word readings for 毛骨悚然. 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) absolutely terrified

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

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