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素昧平生

Mandarin · pinyin sù mèi píng shēng

(idiom) to have never met sb before; entirely unacquainted

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Characters in this entry

素: sù · white (silk); plain; vegetarian; formerly; normally
昧: mèi · obscure, dark; darken
平: píng · flat, level, even; peaceful
生: shēng · life, living, lifetime; birth

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

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Mandarin tones

4–4–2–1 · su4 mei4 ping2 sheng1

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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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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

sou3 mui6 ping4 sang1

Cantonese word readings for 素昧平生. 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) to be strangers to each other; to have never met before

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

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