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耐人尋味

简耐人寻味 · 繁耐人尋味

Mandarin · pinyin nài rén xún wèi

(idiom) thought-provoking; to provide food for thought

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Characters in this entry

耐: nài · endure, bear; resist; patient
人: rén · man; people; mankind; someone else
尋: Look up this written character
味: wèi · taste, smell, odor; delicacy
寻: xún · seek, search, look for; ancient

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

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Mandarin tones

4–2–2–4 · nai4 ren2 xun2 wei4

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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.

耐人尋味 · find source passages ↗ · 耐人寻味 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

noi6 jan4 cam4 mei6

Cantonese word readings for 耐人尋味. 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 thought-provoking; to provide food for thought

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

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