DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT
洗心革面
Mandarin · pinyin xǐ xīn gé miàn
Meanings
- lit. to wash one's heart and renew one's face (idiom); to repent sincerely and mend one's mistaken ways
- to turn over a new leaf
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Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.
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Mandarin tones
3–1–2–4 · xi3 xin1 ge2 mian4
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
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Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.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.
Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading
Rime Cantonese 粵拼
sai2 sam1 gaak3 min6
Cantonese word readings for 洗心革面. 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
- (figurative) to reform oneself; to turn over a new leaf
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
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