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鰥寡孤獨

简鳏寡孤独 · 繁鰥寡孤獨

Mandarin · pinyin guān guǎ gū dú

(lit.) widowers, widows, orphans and the childless (idiom)
(fig.) people with no one left to rely on

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Characters in this entry

鰥: Look up this written character
寡: guǎ · widowed; alone, friendless
孤: gū · orphan, fatherless; solitary
獨: Look up this written character
鳏: guān · huge fish; widower; bachelor
独: dú · alone, single, solitary, only

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

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Mandarin tones

1–3–1–2 · guan1 gua3 gu1 du2

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

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鰥寡孤獨 · find source passages ↗ · 鳏寡孤独 · find source passages ↗

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

gwaan1 gwaa2 gu1 duk6

Cantonese word readings for 鰥寡孤獨. 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) people who have no one to rely on

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

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