羞於啟齒

简 羞于启齿 · 繁 羞於啟齒
Mandarin · pinyin xiū yú qǐ chǐ

Meanings

  1. to be too shy to speak one's mind (idiom)
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Characters in this entry

羞
xiū · disgrace, shame; ashamed; shy
於
yú · yū · in, at, on; interjection alas!
啟
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齒
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于
yú · in, on, at; go to; surname
启
qǐ · open; begin, commence; explain
齿
chǐ · teeth; gears, cogs; age; simplified form of the Kangxi radical 211
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1–2–3–3 · xiu1 yu2 qi3 chi3

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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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