煉獄

简 炼狱 · 繁 煉獄
Mandarin · pinyin liàn yù

Meanings

  1. purgatory
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Characters in this entry

煉
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獄
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炼
liàn · smelt, refine; distill, condense
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 · lian4 yu4

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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.

煉獄 · find source passages ↗ · 炼狱 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

lin6 juk6

Cantonese word readings for 煉獄. 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

  1. (theology, Roman Catholicism) purgatory
  2. abyss of misery

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

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