談性色變

简 谈性色变 · 繁 談性色變
Mandarin · pinyin tán xìng sè biàn

Meanings

  1. to turn pale at the mention of sex; prudish
Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

談
tán · talk; conversation; surname
性
xìng · nature, character, sex
色
sè · color, tint, hue, shade; form, body; beauty, desire for beauty; Kangxi radical 139
變
Look up this written character
谈
tán · talk; conversation; surname
变
biàn · change, transform, alter; rebel
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

2–4–4–4 · tan2 xing4 se4 bian4

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

5character 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.

談性色變 · find source passages ↗ · 谈性色变 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗