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異想天開

简异想天开 · 繁異想天開

Mandarin · pinyin yì xiǎng tiān kāi

(idiom) to imagine the wildest thing; to indulge in fantasy

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Characters in this entry

異: Look up this written character
想: xiǎng · think, speculate, plan, consider
天: tiān · sky, heaven; god, celestial
開: kāi · open; initiate, begin, start
异: yì · different, unusual, strange
开: kāi · open; initiate, begin, start

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

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Mandarin tones

4–3–1–1 · yi4 xiang3 tian1 kai1

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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.

異想天開 · find source passages ↗ · 异想天开 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

ji6 soeng2 tin1 hoi1

Cantonese word readings for 異想天開. 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.

phrase

(idiomatic) to be unrealistic and absurd

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

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