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無師自通

简无师自通 · 繁無師自通

Mandarin · pinyin wú shī zì tōng

self-taught
to learn without a teacher (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

無: Look up this written character
師: shī · teacher, master, specialist; multitude, troops; hexagram ䷆
自: zì · self, private, personal; from; Kangxi radical 132
通: tōng · pass through; common; communicate
无: wú · negative, no, not; Kangxi radical 71
师: shī · teacher, master, specialist

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

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Mandarin tones

2–1–4–1 · wu2 shi1 zi4 tong1

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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.

無師自通 · find source passages ↗ · 无师自通 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

mou4 si1 zi6 tung1

Cantonese word readings for 無師自通. 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

(idiomatic) to be self-taught; to have learnt something without having been taught by a teacher

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

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