Standard Lemma guide

duilian

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /twɛiˈliɛn/
  • rhymes with -iɛn

1

noun

Meaning 1

a pair of content-related lines with same number of characters, same part of speech in each corresponding word, inverse tone patterns in each corresponding character, oblique tone as the last character of first line; (by extension) a physical object (often a scroll, plaque, or paper strip) inscribed with such text

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Chinese, rhetoric

Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 對聯 /对联 (duìlián).

Across languages

Translations

12 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Cantonese: 對聯 /对联 — Translations
  • Chinese Cantonese: 對 /对 (deoi3) — Translations
  • Eastern Min Chinese: 對聯 /对联 (dó̤i-lièng) — Translations
  • Hakka Chinese: 對聯 /对联 — Translations
  • Jin Chinese: 對聯 /对联 (dui3 lye1) — Translations
  • Literary Chinese: 吊子 (diàozi) — Translations
  • Chinese Mandarin: 對聯 /对联 (duìlián) — Translations
  • Chinese Mandarin: 對子 /对子 (duìzi) — Translations
  • Northern Min Chinese: 對聯 /对联 (do̿-lîng) — Translations
  • Chinese: 對聯 /对联 — Translations
  • Wu Chinese: 對聯 /对联 (5te-li) — Translations
  • Polish: duilian — Translations