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驢年馬月

简驴年马月 · 繁驢年馬月

Mandarin · pinyin lǘ nián mǎ yuè

see 猴年馬月 hóu nián mǎ yuè

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Characters in this entry

驢: Look up this written character
年: nián · year; new-years; person's age
馬: Look up this written character
月: yuè · moon; month; Kangxi radical 74
驴: lǘ · donkey, ass
马: mǎ · horse; surname; Kangxi radical 187

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

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Mandarin tones

2–2–3–4 · lu:2 nian2 ma3 yue4

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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.

驢年馬月 · find source passages ↗ · 驴年马月 · 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) time that will never come; impossible date; the remote future; God knows when; an unknown and long time; donkey's years

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

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