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睹物思人

Mandarin · pinyin dǔ wù sī rén

(idiom) to fondly remember a person on seeing sth one associates with them

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Characters in this entry

睹: dǔ · look at, gaze at; observe
物: wù · thing, substance, creature
思: sī · think, consider, ponder; final particle
人: rén · man; people; mankind; someone else

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Mandarin tones

3–4–1–2 · du3 wu4 si1 ren2

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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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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

dou2 mat6 si1 jan4

Cantonese word readings for 睹物思人. 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) seeing things left behind by someone or the belongings of the deceased triggers one's memories of that person

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

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