DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT
父母之命,媒妁之言
Mandarin · pinyin fù mǔ zhī mìng , méi shuò zhī yán
Meanings
- (idiom) parents' orders and matchmaker's services (in establishing an arranged marriage)
Characters in this entry
- 父
- fù · father; Kangxi radical 88
- 母
- mǔ · mother; female elders; female
- 之
- zhī · marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to
- 命
- mìng · life; destiny, fate, luck; an order, instruction
- 媒
- méi · go-between, matchmaker; medium
- 妁
- shuò · act as go-between
- 言
- yán · words, speech; speak, say; Kangxi radical 149
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Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.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.