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魚沉雁杳

简鱼沉雁杳 · 繁魚沉雁杳

Mandarin · pinyin yú chén yàn yǎo

lit. the fish swam away into the depths, the goose vanished in the distance (idiom)
fig. to have had no news (of sb who went away); to have lost contact

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Characters in this entry

魚: yú · fish; surname; Kangxi radical 195
沉: chén · sink, submerge; addicted to
雁: yàn · wild goose
杳: yǎo · obscure, dark, mysterious, deep
鱼: yú · fish; surname; Kangxi radical 195

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

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Mandarin tones

2–2–4–3 · yu2 chen2 yan4 yao3

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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.

魚沉雁杳 · find source passages ↗ · 鱼沉雁杳 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

jyu4 cam4 ngaan6 miu5

Cantonese word readings for 魚沉雁杳. 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) See 雁杳魚沉 /雁杳鱼沉 (yànyǎoyúchén).

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

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