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耄耋之年

Mandarin · pinyin mào dié zhī nián

old age (in one's 80s, 90s, or more)

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Characters in this entry

耄: mào · elderly person; very old, senile
耋: dié · aged; in one's eighties
之: zhī · marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to
年: nián · year; new-years; person's age

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

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Mandarin tones

4–2–1–2 · mao4 die2 zhi1 nian2

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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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Compare dictionary sources 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

mou6 dit6 zi1 nin4

Cantonese word readings for 耄耋之年. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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