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海市蜃樓

简海市蜃楼 · 繁海市蜃樓

Mandarin · pinyin hǎi shì shèn lóu

(idiom) (lit. and fig.) mirage

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Characters in this entry

海: hǎi · sea, ocean; maritime
市: shì · market, fair; city, town; trade
蜃: shèn · marine monster which can change its shape; water spouts; clams
樓: Look up this written character
楼: lóu · building of two or more stories

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Mandarin tones

3–4–4–2 · hai3 shi4 shen4 lou2

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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.

海市蜃樓 · find source passages ↗ · 海市蜃楼 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

hoi2 si5 san5 lau4

Cantonese word readings for 海市蜃樓. 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.

noun

mirage (optical illusion)
(figurative) castles in the air; illusion

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

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