DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

鮮為人知

简鲜为人知 · 繁鮮為人知

Mandarin · pinyin xiǎn wéi rén zhī

rarely known to anyone (idiom); almost unknown
secret to all but a few

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Characters in this entry

鮮: Look up this written character
為: Look up this written character
人: rén · man; people; mankind; someone else
知: zhī · know, perceive, comprehend
鲜: xiān · fresh; delicious; attractive
为: wèi · do, handle, govern, act; be

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

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Mandarin tones

3–2–2–1 · xian3 wei2 ren2 zhi1

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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.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(idiomatic) to be rarely known to anyone; to be secret to all but a few

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

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