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談虎色變

简谈虎色变 · 繁談虎色變

Mandarin · pinyin tán hǔ sè biàn

(lit.) to turn pale at the mention of a tiger (idiom)
(fig.) to be terrified at the thought (of it)

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Characters in this entry

談: tán · talk; conversation; surname
虎: hǔ · tiger; brave, fierce; surname
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.

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Mandarin tones

2–3–4–4 · tan2 hu3 se4 bian4

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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.

談虎色變 · find source passages ↗ · 谈虎色变 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

taam4 fu2 sik1 bin3

Cantonese word readings for 談虎色變. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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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 become scared when a particular thing is mentioned

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

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