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灯下黑

dēng xià hēidictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
(lit.) it's dark right under the lamp / (fig.) people tend to overlook things right under their noses
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-b8481aa7351a8018. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

燈下黑 灯下黑 [deng1 xia4 hei1] /(lit.) it's dark right under the lamp/(fig.) people tend to overlook things right under their noses/

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: 燈下黑

  • 灯
    dēng

    lamp / light / lantern / CL:盞|盏[zhǎn]

  • 下
    xià

    down / downwards / below / lower / later / next (week etc) / second (of two parts) / to decline / to go down / to arrive at (a decision, conclusion etc) / measure word to show the frequency of an action

  • 黑
    hēi

    black / dark / sinister / secret / shady / illegal / to hide (sth) away / to vilify / (loanword) to hack (computing)

    Hēi

    short name for Heilongjiang 黑龍江|黑龙江[Hēi lóng jiāng]

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.