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油然而生

Mandarin · pinyin yóu rán ér shēng

arising involuntarily (idiom); spontaneous
to spring up unbidden (of emotion)

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Characters in this entry

油: yóu · oil, fat, grease, lard; paints
然: rán · yes, certainly; pledge, promise
而: ér · and; and then; and yet; but; Kangxi radical 126
生: shēng · life, living, lifetime; birth

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

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Mandarin tones

2–2–2–1 · you2 ran2 er2 sheng1

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

jau4 jin4 ji4 sang1

Cantonese word readings for 油然而生. 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

(of a thought, feeling, emotion, etc.) to arise spontaneously

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

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