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潑水難收

简泼水难收 · 繁潑水難收

Mandarin · pinyin pō shuǐ nán shōu

water once spilt cannot be retrieved (idiom); irreversible change

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Characters in this entry

潑: Look up this written character
水: shuǐ · water, liquid, lotion, juice
難: Look up this written character
收: shōu · gather together, collect; harvest
泼: pō · pour, splash, water, sprinkle
难: nán · difficult, arduous, hard; unable

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

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Mandarin tones

1–3–2–1 · po1 shui3 nan2 shou1

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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.

潑水難收 · find source passages ↗ · 泼水难收 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

put3 seoi2 naan4 sau1

Cantonese word readings for 潑水難收. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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