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莊周夢蝶

简庄周梦蝶 · 繁莊周夢蝶

Mandarin · pinyin zhuāng zhōu mèng dié

Zhuangzi 莊子 Zhuāng zǐ dreams of a butterfly (or is it the butterfly dreaming of Zhuangzi?)

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Characters in this entry

莊: Look up this written character
周: zhōu · Zhou dynasty; circumference
夢: Look up this written character
蝶: dié · butterfly
庄: zhuāng · village, hamlet; villa, manor
梦: mèng · dream; visionary; wishful

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

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Mandarin tones

1–1–4–2 · zhuang1 zhou1 meng4 die2

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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.

莊周夢蝶 · find source passages ↗ · 庄周梦蝶 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

phrase

(figurative, philosophy) one is never certain whether what one sees is reality or illusion; changeable nature of human life

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

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