lè'ér​bù​yín

pleasant but not obscene

  • created sense approved 乐而不淫/樂而不淫 · lè'ér​bù​yín · pleasant but not obscene — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    乐而不淫 / 樂而不淫

    lè'ér​bù​yín

    pleasant but not obscene

    (of art or music) joyful and happy without being unrestrained or crossing the line into excess or vulgarity; pleasant without being debauched. This phrase was originally used by [[孔子|孔子|kong3 zi3]] in the Analects to describe the [[关雎|關雎|guan1 ju1]] poem.

    乐 (literal) → 乐/樂 · lè · happy 而 (literal) → 而 · ér · but 不 (literal) → 不 · bù · not 淫 (literal) → 淫 · yín · excessive

    Changed: simplified, traditional, gloss, definition, pinyin, variant pinyin, variants, separable parts, decomposition

    created sense