DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT
貪生怕死
简 贪生怕死 · 繁 貪生怕死Mandarin · pinyin tān shēng pà sǐ
Meanings
- greedy for life, afraid of death (idiom); craven and cowardly
- clinging abjectly to life
- only interested in saving one's neck
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Mandarin tones
1–1–4–3 · tan1 sheng1 pa4 si3
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
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Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense
Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section
Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.
phrase
- (derogatory) to cravenly cling to life and fear death; to be cowardly and afraid of death
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack