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酒色財氣

简酒色财气 · 繁酒色財氣

Mandarin · pinyin jiǔ sè cái qì

wine, sex, avarice and temper (idiom); four cardinal vices

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Characters in this entry

酒: jiǔ · wine, spirits, liquor, alcoholic beverage
色: sè · color, tint, hue, shade; form, body; beauty, desire for beauty; Kangxi radical 139
財: Look up this written character
氣: qì · air, gas, steam, vapor; spirit
财: cái · wealth, valuables, riches
气: qì · steam, vapor; Kangxi radical 84

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

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Mandarin tones

3–4–2–4 · jiu3 se4 cai2 qi4

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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.

酒色財氣 · find source passages ↗ · 酒色财气 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

zau2 sik1 coi4 hei3

Cantonese word readings for 酒色財氣. 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) wine, sex, avarice and temper; the four cardinal vices

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

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