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望文生义

wàng wén shēng yìdictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
lit. view a text and interpret (idiom) / to interpret word by word without understanding the meaning / a far-fetched interpretation
Sources & editorial notes

Reference definitions: CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source release 2026-10-27T01:55:52Z. Imported 2026-10-27. Definition wording and meaning order are retained. Recognized pronunciation references are displayed with tone marks; the original source record is available below.

Source record: cd-5192559dc5011afa. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

望文生義 望文生义 [wang4 wen2 sheng1 yi4] /lit. view a text and interpret (idiom); to interpret word by word without understanding the meaning/a far-fetched interpretation/

Reference definitions and teaching material have separate provenance.

Reference information

The definitions above are from CC-CEDICT. Examples and usage notes are available on selected entries.

Character information

View the individual characters. Their meanings do not necessarily explain the meaning of the whole word.

Other forms in these source records: 望文生義

  • 望
    wàng

    full moon / to hope / to expect / to visit / to gaze (into the distance) / to look towards / towards / 15th day of month (lunar calendar)

  • 文
    wén

    language / culture / writing / formal / literary / gentle / (old) classifier for coins / Kangxi radical 67

    Wén

    surname Wen

  • 生
    shēng

    to grow / to give birth / to produce / to be born / to arise / to occur / to light (a fire) / to live / to be alive / life / raw / uncooked / unprocessed / unfamiliar / strange / (bound form) student / person engaged in a field / (bound form) male role in traditional opera / (bound form) life / lifetime / (bound form) means of livelihood / (bound form) very / intensely (as in 生疼[shēng téng]) / (bound form) in a forced manner (as in 生拉硬拽[shēng lā yìng zhuài])

  • 义
    yì

    justice / righteousness / meaning / foster (father etc) / adopted / artificial (tooth, limb etc) / relationship / friendship

    Yì

    surname Yi / (Tw) Italy (abbr. for 義大利|义大利[Yì dà lì])

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.