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閒雲野鶴

简闲云野鹤 · 繁閒雲野鶴

Mandarin · pinyin xián yún yě hè

(idiom) free spirit; person who leads a carefree, unfettered life

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Characters in this entry

閒: Look up this written character
雲: yún · clouds; Yunnan province
野: yě · open country, field; wilderness
鶴: Look up this written character
闲: xián · fence, guard; defend; idle time
云: yún · say, speak; clouds
鹤: hè · crane; Grus species (various)

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

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Mandarin tones

2–2–3–4 · xian2 yun2 ye3 he4

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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.

閒雲野鶴 · find source passages ↗ · 闲云野鹤 · 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

(idiomatic) free spirit

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

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