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說長道短

简说长道短 · 繁說長道短

Mandarin · pinyin shuō cháng dào duǎn

lit. to discuss sb's merits and demerits (idiom); to gossip

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Characters in this entry

說: shuō · speak, say, talk; scold, upbraid
長: zhǎng · long; length; excel in; leader; Kangxi radical 168
道: dào · path, road, street; method, way
短: duǎn · short; brief; deficient, lacking
说: shuō · speak, say, talk; scold, upbraid
长: zhǎng · long; length; excel in; leader

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

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Mandarin tones

1–2–4–3 · shuo1 chang2 dao4 duan3

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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.

說長道短 · find source passages ↗ · 说长道短 · 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.

phrase

(idiomatic) to indulge in idle gossip

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

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