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腦洞大開

简脑洞大开 · 繁腦洞大開

Mandarin · pinyin nǎo dòng dà kāi

imaginative
to have one's mind buzzing with ideas

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Characters in this entry

腦: Look up this written character
洞: dòng · cave, grotto; ravine; hole
大: dà · big, great, vast, large, high
開: kāi · open; initiate, begin, start
脑: nǎo · brain
开: kāi · open; initiate, begin, start

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

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Mandarin tones

3–4–4–1 · nao3 dong4 da4 kai1

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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.

腦洞大開 · find source passages ↗ · 脑洞大开 · find source passages ↗

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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.

verb

(neologism, slang) to greatly open up one's eyes (said of unusual, weird ideas)

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

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