青梅竹馬
简 青梅竹马 · 繁 青梅竹馬Meanings
- lit. green plums and hobby-horse (idiom)
- fig. innocent children's games
- childhood sweethearts
- a couple who grew up as childhood friends
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Mandarin tones
1–2–2–3 · qing1 mei2 zhu2 ma3
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
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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.
青梅竹馬 · find source passages ↗ · 青梅竹马 · find source passages ↗
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Rime Cantonese 粵拼
cing1 mui4 zuk1 maa5
Cantonese word readings for 青梅竹馬. 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) a girl and a boy playing innocently together; a man and a woman who had an innocent affection for each other in childhood; childhood sweethearts
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
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