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有生之年

Mandarin · pinyin yǒu shēng zhī nián

(idiom) during one's lifetime; while one is on this earth; in one's remaining years

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Characters in this entry

有: yǒu · have, own, possess; exist
生: shēng · life, living, lifetime; birth
之: zhī · marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to
年: nián · year; new-years; person's age

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

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Mandarin tones

3–1–1–2 · you3 sheng1 zhi1 nian2

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

jau5 sang1 zi1 nin4

Cantonese word readings for 有生之年. 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.

phrase

(idiomatic) one's remaining years; the rest of one's life

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

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