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難言之隱

简难言之隐 · 繁難言之隱

Mandarin · pinyin nán yán zhī yǐn

a hidden trouble hard to mention (idiom)
sth too embarrassing to mention
an embarrassing illness

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Characters in this entry

難: Look up this written character
言: yán · words, speech; speak, say; Kangxi radical 149
之: zhī · marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to
隱: Look up this written character
难: nán · difficult, arduous, hard; unable
隐: yǐn · hide, conceal; hidden, secret

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

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Mandarin tones

2–2–1–3 · nan2 yan2 zhi1 yin3

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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.

難言之隱 · find source passages ↗ · 难言之隐 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

naan4 jin4 zi1 jan2

Cantonese word readings for 難言之隱. 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) something too embarrassing to mention; an embarrassing illness

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

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