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天兵

Mandarin · pinyin tiān bīng

celestial soldier
(old) imperial troops
(Tw, jocular) clumsy army recruit
(more generally) bungler
screw-up

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Characters in this entry

天: tiān · sky, heaven; god, celestial
兵: bīng · soldier, troops

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

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Mandarin tones

1–1 · tian1 bing1

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 6 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

tin1 bing1

Cantonese word readings for 天兵. 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 · Etymology 1

celestial army; divine warriors
imperial troops
invincible army
army of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom

noun · Etymology 1

(folk religion) a type of malicious spirit; one of 三兵 (sam-phiaⁿ)

noun · Etymology 2

(Taiwanese Hokkien, Taiwanese Mandarin, originally military, derogatory) a careless or trouble-making soldier; a negligent person

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

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