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葉落歸根

简叶落归根 · 繁葉落歸根

Mandarin · pinyin yè luò guī gēn

a falling leaf returns to the roots (idiom); everything has its ancestral home
In old age, an expatriate longs to return home.

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Characters in this entry

葉: yè · leaf, petal; page of book; period
落: luò · fall, drop; net income, surplus
歸: Look up this written character
根: gēn · root, base(d on); foundation
叶: yè · to harmonize, to rhyme; to unite; (borrowed for) leaf
归: guī · return; return to, revert to

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

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Mandarin tones

4–4–1–1 · ye4 luo4 gui1 gen1

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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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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

phrase

(idiomatic) a person who has been away from his or her hometown for a long time would eventually return

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

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