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眼珠子

Mandarin · pinyin yǎn zhū zi

eyeball
fig. the apple of one's eye (i.e. favorite person)

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Characters in this entry

眼: yǎn · eye; eyelet, hole, opening
珠: zhū · precious stone, gem, jewel, pearl
子: zǐ · offspring, child; fruit, seed of; first earthly branch

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

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Mandarin tones

3–1–5 · yan3 zhu1 zi5

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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.

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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.

noun

(colloquial) eyeball
(Chifeng Mandarin) eye
(chiefly Mainland China, figurative) apple of one's eye

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

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