自然而然

Mandarin · pinyin zì rán ér rán

Meanings

  1. (idiom) natural; unforced
  2. (idiom) naturally; as a matter of course; in the natural course of things
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Characters in this entry

自
zì · self, private, personal; from; Kangxi radical 132
然
rán · yes, certainly; pledge, promise
而
ér · and; and then; and yet; but; Kangxi radical 126
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–2–2–2 · zi4 ran2 er2 ran2

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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 · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

zi6 jin4 ji4 jin4

Cantonese word readings for 自然而然. 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.

adv

  1. naturally (so); automatically

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

自然而然 · zi4 ran2 er2 ran2
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 91,980
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record自然而然 自然而然 [zi4 ran2 er2 ran2] /(idiom) natural; unforced/(idiom) naturally; as a matter of course; in the natural course of things/