Chinese

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opening; door; gate
opening; door; gate; doorway; gateway; valve; switch; way to do something; knack; family; house; (religious) sect; school (of thought); class; category; (taxonomy) phylum or division
 
can; may; able to
can; may; able to; certain(ly); to suit; (particle used for emphasis)
 
to collect; to gather; to catch
to collect; to gather; to catch; to shift; gauze
 
bird; lentigo; sparrow
trad. (門可羅雀)
simp. (门可罗雀)
alternative forms 門堪羅雀门堪罗雀
Literally: “can use a net to catch sparrows at the gate”.
 
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Etymology

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From a story in the Records of the Grand Historian:

廷尉賓客 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
廷尉宾客 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
From: The Records of the Grand Historian, by Sima Qian, c. 91 BCE
Shǐ Zhái Gōng wéi tíngwèi, bīnkè tián mén; jí fèi, ménwài shè què luó. [Pinyin]
When Zhai Gong was a court official, guests filled his door, but when he was dismissed, a net could be used to catch sparrows outside his gate.

Pronunciation

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Idiom

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門可羅雀

  1. (figurative) to have few visitors

Synonyms

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Antonyms

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