DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

說老實話

简说老实话 · 繁說老實話

Mandarin · pinyin shuō lǎo shi huà

to be honest
to tell the truth
to be frank

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Characters in this entry

說: shuō · speak, say, talk; scold, upbraid
老: lǎo · old, aged; experienced; Kangxi radical 125
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

1–3–5–4 · shuo1 lao3 shi5 hua4

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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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