DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

琴劍飄零

简琴剑飘零 · 繁琴劍飄零

Mandarin · pinyin qín jiàn piāo líng

floating between zither and sword (idiom); fig. wandering aimlessly with no tenured position

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Characters in this entry

琴: qín · Chinese lute or guitar
劍: Look up this written character
飄: Look up this written character
零: líng · zero; fragment, fraction
剑: jiàn · sword, dagger, saber
飘: piāo · whirlwind, cyclone; floating

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

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Mandarin tones

2–4–1–2 · qin2 jian4 piao1 ling2

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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.

琴劍飄零 · find source passages ↗ · 琴剑飘零 · find source passages ↗

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