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肺腑之言

Mandarin · pinyin fèi fǔ zhī yán

words from the bottom of one's heart

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Characters in this entry

肺: fèi · lungs
腑: fǔ · bowels, entrails, internal organs
之: zhī · marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to
言: yán · words, speech; speak, say; Kangxi radical 149

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

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Mandarin tones

4–3–1–2 · fei4 fu3 zhi1 yan2

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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

fai3 fu2 zi1 jin4

Cantonese word readings for 肺腑之言. 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) words from the heart; heartfelt words

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

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