無顏見江東父老
简 无颜见江东父老 · 繁 無顏見江東父老Meanings
- (idiom) to be unable to return to one's hometown due to the shame of failure (originally referred to Xiang Yu 項羽 Xiàng Yǔ, who chose not to retreat to Jiangdong after his humiliating defeat)
Characters in this entry
- 無
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- 顏
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- 見
- jiàn · see, observe, behold; perceive; Kangxi radical 147
- 江
- jiāng · large river; the Yangzi; surname
- 東
- dōng · east, eastern, eastward
- 父
- fù · father; Kangxi radical 88
- 老
- lǎo · old, aged; experienced; Kangxi radical 125
- 无
- wú · negative, no, not; Kangxi radical 71
- 颜
- yán · face, facial appearance
- 见
- jiàn · see, observe, behold; perceive
- 东
- dōng · east, eastern, eastward
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Mandarin tones
2–2–4–1–1–4–3 · wu2 yan2 jian4 Jiang1 dong1 fu4 lao3
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
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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.
無顏見江東父老 · find source passages ↗ · 无颜见江东父老 · find source passages ↗
Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading
Rime Cantonese 粵拼
mou4 ngaan4 gin3 gong1 dung1 fu6 lou5
Cantonese word readings for 無顏見江東父老. 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 ashamed of one's failures; to be ashamed to face people in one's hometown because of one's failures
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
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