DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

蜀犬吠日

Mandarin · pinyin Shǔ quǎn fèi rì

lit. Sichuan dogs bark at the sun (idiom); fig. a simpleton will marvel at even the most common things
alludes to the Sichuan foggy weather where it's uncommon to see a sunny day

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

蜀: shǔ · one of the Three Kingdoms, established by Liu Bei
犬: quǎn · dog; radical number 94
吠: fèi · bark
日: rì · sun; day; daytime

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

3–3–4–4 · Shu3 quan3 fei4 ri4

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

4character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

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.

蜀犬吠日 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

suk6 hyun2 fai6 jat6

Cantonese word readings for 蜀犬吠日. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

phrase

(idiomatic) to be surprised at something common because of one's ignorance

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

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