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鄭人買履
简 郑人买履 · 繁 鄭人買履Mandarin · pinyin zhèng rén mǎi lǚ
Meanings
- (lit.) the person from Zheng 鄭 Zhèng who wanted to buy shoes (an allusion to an ancient story about somebody who, when buying a pair of shoes, preferred to rely on their foot measurements rather than just trying them on) (idiom)
- (fig.) disregarding the sensible approach in favor of adherence to a fixed idea
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Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.
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Mandarin tones
4–2–3–3 · zheng4 ren2 mai3 lu:3
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
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Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.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.
鄭人買履 · find source passages ↗ · 郑人买履 · find source passages ↗
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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
- (sarcastic) a person who rigidly adheres to rules and regulations (or established convention), while at the same time ignoring the reality of a situation
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
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