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沉默寡言

Mandarin · pinyin chén mò guǎ yán

habitually silent (idiom)
reticent
uncommunicative

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Characters in this entry

沉: chén · sink, submerge; addicted to
默: mò · silent; quiet, still; dark
寡: guǎ · widowed; alone, friendless
言: yán · words, speech; speak, say; Kangxi radical 149

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

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Mandarin tones

2–4–3–2 · chen2 mo4 gua3 yan2

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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) taciturn; reticent; to be of few words

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

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