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郢書燕說

简郢书燕说 · 繁郢書燕說

Mandarin · pinyin Yǐng shū Yān shuō

lit. Ying writes a letter and Yan reads it
fig. to misinterpret the original meaning
to pile up errors
refers to the letter from capital 郢 Yǐng of 楚 Chǔ in which the inadvertent words "hold up the candle" are mistaken by the minister of 燕 Yān as "promote the wise"

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Characters in this entry

郢: yǐng · ancient city in Hubei
書: Look up this written character
燕: yàn · swallow (bird); comfort, enjoy
說: shuō · speak, say, talk; scold, upbraid
书: shū · book, letter, document; writings
说: shuō · speak, say, talk; scold, upbraid

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

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Mandarin tones

3–1–1–1 · Ying3 shu1 Yan1 shuo1

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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.

郢書燕說 · find source passages ↗ · 郢书燕说 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

jing5 syu1 jin1 syut3

Cantonese word readings for 郢書燕說. 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 misinterpret the original meaning; to distort the meaning in order to fit one's ideas; to pile up errors

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

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