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管閒事

简管闲事 · 繁管閒事

Mandarin · pinyin guǎn xián shì

to meddle
to be a "nosy Parker"
to be too inquisitive about other people's business

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Characters in this entry

管: guǎn · pipe, tube, duct; woodwind music
閒: Look up this written character
事: shì · affair, matter, business; to serve; accident, incident
闲: xián · fence, guard; defend; idle time

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

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Mandarin tones

3–2–4 · guan3 xian2 shi4

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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.

管閒事 · find source passages ↗ · 管闲事 · find source passages ↗

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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.

verb

to poke one's nose into other people's business; to meddle

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

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