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面壁思過

简面壁思过 · 繁面壁思過

Mandarin · pinyin miàn bì sī guò

to face the wall and ponder about one's misdeeds
to stand in the corner (punishment)
(fig.) to examine one's conscience

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Characters in this entry

面: miàn · face; surface; plane; side, dimension; Kangxi radical 176
壁: bì · partition wall; walls of a house; 14th lunar mansion, determinative star γ Pegasi (Algenib)
思: sī · think, consider, ponder; final particle
過: guò · pass, pass through, go across
过: guò · pass, pass through, go across

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

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Mandarin tones

4–4–1–4 · mian4 bi4 si1 guo4

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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.

面壁思過 · find source passages ↗ · 面壁思过 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

min6 bik1 si1 gwo3

Cantonese word readings for 面壁思過. 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 face the wall and ponder about one's misdeeds

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

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