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說真的

简说真的 · 繁說真的

Mandarin · pinyin shuō zhēn de

to tell the truth
honestly
in fact

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Characters in this entry

說: shuō · speak, say, talk; scold, upbraid
真: zhēn · real, actual, true, genuine
的: de · possessive, adjectival suffix
说: shuō · speak, say, talk; scold, upbraid

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

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Mandarin tones

1–1–5 · shuo1 zhen1 de5

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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.

說真的 · find source passages ↗ · 说真的 · find source passages ↗

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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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