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膝下

Mandarin · pinyin xī xià

at the knee (in reference to children)
(salutation used in letters to parents or grandparents)

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Characters in this entry

膝: xī · knee
下: xià · under, underneath, below; down; inferior; bring down

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

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Mandarin tones

1–4 · xi1 xia4

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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 Wiktionary · 3 senses

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

noun

(literally) at one's knees
(figuratively) children
salutation used in letters to parents or grandparents

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

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