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面惡心善

简面恶心善 · 繁面惡心善

Mandarin · pinyin miàn è xīn shàn

to have a mean-looking face but a heart of gold (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

面: miàn · face; surface; plane; side, dimension; Kangxi radical 176
惡: Look up this written character
心: xīn · heart; mind, intelligence; soul; 5th lunar mansion, determinative star α Scorpii (Antares)
善: shàn · good, virtuous, charitable, kind
恶: è · evil, wicked, bad, foul

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

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Mandarin tones

4–4–1–4 · mian4 e4 xin1 shan4

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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.

面惡心善 · find source passages ↗ · 面恶心善 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

min6 ok3 sam1 sin6

Cantonese word readings for 面惡心善. 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) wicked face but a kind heart

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

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