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名落孙山

míng luò sūn shān

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Definitions

  1. 1. lit. to fall behind Sun Shan 孫山|孙山[sūn shān] (who came last in the imperial examination) (idiom)
  2. 2. fig. to fail an exam
  3. 3. to fall behind (in a competition)

Child Words of 名落孙山

孙
sūn

grandson

落
lào

colloquial reading for 落[luò] in certain compounds

落
luò

to fall or drop

山
shān

mountain; hill (CL:座[zuò])

名
míng

name

落
là

to leave out

孙山
sūn shān

Sun Shan, Song Dynasty joker and talented scholar