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空耳
Mandarin · pinyin kōng ěr
Meanings
- to intentionally reinterpret a spoken expression as if one had misheard it, for the sake of humor (often, it is a phrase in a foreign language twisted into a similar-sounding phrase in one's native language with a completely different meaning) (orthographic borrowing from Japanese 空耳 "soramimi")
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Mandarin tones
1–3 · kong1 er3
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
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Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.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.
Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading
Rime Cantonese 粵拼
hung1 ji5
Cantonese word readings for 空耳. 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.
noun
- (neologism, Internet slang) soramimi; intentional mondegreen; homophonic translation
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
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