男女授受不親
简 男女授受不亲 · 繁 男女授受不親Meanings
- men and women should not touch hands when they give or receive things (citation, from Mencius)
Characters in this entry
- 男
- nán · male, man; son; baron; surname
- 女
- nǚ · woman, girl; feminine; Kangxi radical 38; 10th lunar mansion, determinative star ε Aquarii (Albali)
- 授
- shòu · give to, transmit; confer
- 受
- shòu · receive, accept, get; bear, stand
- 不
- bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
- 親
- qīn · relatives, parents; intimate
- 亲
- qīn · relatives, parents; intimate the hazel nut or filbert tree a thorny tree
Explore the spelling
Mandarin tones
2–3–4–4–4–1 · nan2 nu:3 shou4 shou4 bu4 qin1
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
Connected dictionary
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.
男女授受不親 · find source passages ↗ · 男女授受不亲 · find source passages ↗
Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading
Rime Cantonese 粵拼
naam4 neoi5 sau6 sau6 bat1 can1
Cantonese word readings for 男女授受不親. 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.
proverb
- Men and women should not touch each other when giving or receiving an item.
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
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