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燈下黑

简灯下黑 · 繁燈下黑

Mandarin · pinyin dēng xià hēi

(lit.) it's dark right under the lamp
(fig.) people tend to overlook things right under their noses

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Characters in this entry

燈: dēng · lantern, lamp
下: xià · under, underneath, below; down; inferior; bring down
黑: hēi · black; dark; evil, sinister; Kangxi radical 203
灯: dēng · lantern, lamp

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

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Mandarin tones

1–4–1 · deng1 xia4 hei1

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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.

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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.

proverb

(literally) it's dark right under the lamp
(figurative) people tend to overlook things right under their noses

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

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