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身外之物

Mandarin · pinyin shēn wài zhī wù

mere worldly possessions

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Characters in this entry

身: shēn · body; trunk, hull; Kangxi radical 158
外: wài · out, outside, external; foreign
之: zhī · marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to
物: wù · thing, substance, creature

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

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Mandarin tones

1–4–1–4 · shen1 wai4 zhi1 wu4

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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.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

san1 ngoi6 zi1 mat6

Cantonese word readings for 身外之物. 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) mere worldly possessions; things external to one's life

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

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