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莫衷一是

Mandarin · pinyin mò zhōng yī shì

unable to reach a decision (idiom); cannot agree on the right choice
no unanimous decision
still a matter of discussion

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Characters in this entry

莫: mò · do not, is not, can not; negative
衷: zhōng · heart, from bottom of one's heart
一: yī · one; a, an; alone
是: shì · indeed, yes, right; to be; demonstrative pronoun, this, that

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

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Mandarin tones

4–1–1–4 · mo4 zhong1 yi1 shi4

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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

mok6 cung1 jat1 si6

Cantonese word readings for 莫衷一是. 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) cannot decide which is right; unable to reach a unanimous conclusion

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

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