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黃花菜都涼了

简黄花菜都凉了 · 繁黃花菜都涼了

Mandarin · pinyin huáng huā cài dōu liáng le

lit. the dishes are cold (idiom)
fig. to arrive late; to take one's sweet time

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Characters in this entry

黃: huáng · yellow; surname; Kangxi radical 201
花: huā · flower; blossoms
菜: cài · vegetables; dish, order; food
都: dōu · dū · metropolis, capital; all, the whole; elegant, refined
涼: liáng · cool, cold; disheartened
了: le · to finish; particle of completed action
黄: huáng · yellow; surname
凉: liáng · cool, cold; disheartened

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

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Mandarin tones

2–1–4–1–2–5 · huang2 hua1 cai4 dou1 liang2 le5

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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.

黃花菜都涼了 · find source passages ↗ · 黄花菜都凉了 · 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

It's too late.

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

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