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說實話

简说实话 · 繁說實話

Mandarin · pinyin shuō shí huà

to speak the truth
truth to tell
frankly

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Characters in this entry

說: shuō · speak, say, talk; scold, upbraid
實: shí · real, true, solid, honest
話: huà · speech, talk, language; dialect
说: shuō · speak, say, talk; scold, upbraid
实: shí · real, true; honest, sincere
话: huà · speech, talk, language; dialect

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

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Mandarin tones

1–2–4 · shuo1 shi2 hua4

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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.

adv

seriously; honestly

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

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