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生死關頭

简生死关头 · 繁生死關頭

Mandarin · pinyin shēng sǐ guān tóu

the critical moment
life and death crisis

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Characters in this entry

生: shēng · life, living, lifetime; birth
死: sǐ · die; dead; death
關: Look up this written character
頭: tóu · head; top; chief, first; boss
关: guān · frontier pass; close; relation
头: tóu · head; top; chief, first; boss

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

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Mandarin tones

1–3–1–2 · sheng1 si3 guan1 tou2

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

sang1 sei2 gwaan1 tau4

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.

noun

life-or-death moment; a moment which determines one's survival

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

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