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遇人不淑

Mandarin · pinyin yù rén bù shū

(idiom) to be in a relationship with or marry a bad person
(idiom) to associate with a bad person

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Characters in this entry

遇: yù · meet, come across, encounter
人: rén · man; people; mankind; someone else
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
淑: shū · good, pure, virtuous, charming

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

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Mandarin tones

4–2–4–1 · yu4 ren2 bu4 shu1

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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 · 2 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

jyu6 jan4 bat1 suk6

Cantonese word readings for 遇人不淑. 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 be in a relationship with or marry a bad person
(idiomatic) to associate with a bad person

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

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