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地獄

简地狱 · 繁地獄

Mandarin · pinyin dì yù

hell; underworld; (Buddhism) Naraka
(coll.) (of humor, jokes, content etc) extremely dark or morally transgressive

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Characters in this entry

地: de · dì · earth; soil, ground; region
獄: Look up this written character
狱: yù · prison, jail; case; lawsuit

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–4 · di4 yu4

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2character links1same-tone record

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

地獄 · find source passages ↗ · 地狱 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 3 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

dei6 juk6

Cantonese word readings for 地獄. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

noun

(religion) hell; underworld; inferno
(figurative) hell on earth

adj

(Internet slang, neologism, of jokes, memes or gags) having a punchline that is built upon other's misfortune or disabilities, such that one would go to hell after comprehending the joke (see hellish gag); cursed

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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