DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

談天說地

简谈天说地 · 繁談天說地

Mandarin · pinyin tán tiān shuō dì

to talk endlessly; to talk about everything under the sun

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

談: tán · talk; conversation; surname
天: tiān · sky, heaven; god, celestial
說: shuō · speak, say, talk; scold, upbraid
地: de · dì · earth; soil, ground; region
谈: tán · talk; conversation; surname
说: shuō · speak, say, talk; scold, upbraid

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

2–1–1–4 · tan2 tian1 shuo1 di4

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

6character 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.

談天說地 · find source passages ↗ · 谈天说地 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 2 Cantonese readings

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

taam4 tin1 jyut6 dei6 · taam4 tin1 syut3 dei6

Cantonese word readings for 談天說地. 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 chat endlessly

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

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