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薪火相傳

简薪火相传 · 繁薪火相傳

Mandarin · pinyin xīn huǒ xiāng chuán

lit. the flame of a burning piece of firewood passes on to the rest (idiom)
fig. (of knowledge, skill etc) to be passed on from teachers to students, one generation to another

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Characters in this entry

薪: xīn · fuel, firewood; salary
火: huǒ · fire, flame; burn; anger, rage
相: xiāng · mutual, reciprocal, each other
傳: chuán · summon; propagate, transmit
传: chuán · summon; propagate, transmit

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

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Mandarin tones

1–3–1–2 · xin1 huo3 xiang1 chuan2

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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.

薪火相傳 · find source passages ↗ · 薪火相传 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

san1 fo2 soeng1 cyun4

Cantonese word readings for 薪火相傳. 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) to pass down (good tradition, knowledge, skill, etc.) from generation to generation

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

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