異國他鄉

简 异国他乡 · 繁 異國他鄉
Mandarin · pinyin yì guó tā xiāng

Meanings

  1. foreign lands and places (idiom); living as expatriate
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Characters in this entry

異
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國
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他
tā · other, another; he, she, it
鄉
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异
yì · different, unusual, strange
国
guó · nation, country, nation-state
乡
xiāng · country; rural; village
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–2–1–1 · yi4 guo2 ta1 xiang1

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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.

異國他鄉 · find source passages ↗ · 异国他乡 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

  1. (idiomatic) foreign countries or lands; far away from one's native place

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

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