諱言

简 讳言 · 繁 諱言
Mandarin · pinyin huì yán

Meanings

  1. to avoid stating openly (esp. sensitive or unpleasant matters, usu. in the negative, as in 不諱言 bù huì yán "to state frankly")
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Characters in this entry

諱
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言
yán · words, speech; speak, say; Kangxi radical 149
讳
huì · conceal; shun; regard as taboo
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–2 · hui4 yan2

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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.

諱言 · find source passages ↗ · 讳言 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

wai5 jin4

Cantonese word readings for 諱言. 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.

verb

  1. to dare not or would not speak up

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

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諱言 · hui4 yan2
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 101,885
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record諱言 讳言 [hui4 yan2] /to avoid stating openly (esp. sensitive or unpleasant matters, usu. in the negative, as in 不諱言|不讳言[bu4 hui4 yan2] "to state frankly")/