童心未泯

Mandarin · pinyin tóng xīn wèi mǐn

Meanings

  1. (idiom) still a child at heart; to retain a playful spirit
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Characters in this entry

童
tóng · child, boy, servant boy; virgin
心
xīn · heart; mind, intelligence; soul; 5th lunar mansion, determinative star α Scorpii (Antares)
未
wèi · not yet; eighth earthly branch
泯
mǐn · destroy, eliminate; perish
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

2–1–4–3 · tong2 xin1 wei4 min3

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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.

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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

  1. (idiomatic) one's childish disposition remains even though he/she is grownup

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

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