孤苦伶仃

Mandarin · pinyin gū kǔ líng dīng

Meanings

  1. solitary and impoverished (idiom)
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Characters in this entry

孤
gū · orphan, fatherless; solitary
苦
kǔ · bitter; hardship, suffering
伶
líng · lonely, solitary; actor
仃
dīng · lonely, solitary
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1–3–2–1 · gu1 ku3 ling2 ding1

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Connected dictionary

4character links1same-tone record
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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

gu1 fu2 ling4 ding1

Cantonese word readings for 孤苦伶仃. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

gu1 fu2 ling4 ding1

Pleco · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Word reading; meanings not aligned.

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

phrase

  1. (idiomatic) solitary and impoverished

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack