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窮思苦想

简穷思苦想 · 繁窮思苦想

Mandarin · pinyin qióng sī kǔ xiǎng

to think hard (idiom)
to give sth much thought

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Characters in this entry

窮: Look up this written character
思: sī · think, consider, ponder; final particle
苦: kǔ · bitter; hardship, suffering
想: xiǎng · think, speculate, plan, consider
穷: qióng · poor, destitute, impoverished

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

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Mandarin tones

2–1–3–3 · qiong2 si1 ku3 xiang3

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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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