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一柱擎天

Mandarin · pinyin yī zhù qíng tiān

lit. to support the sky as a single pillar (idiom)
fig. to take a crucial responsibility upon one's shoulders

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Characters in this entry

一: yī · one; a, an; alone
柱: zhù · pillar, post; support; lean on
擎: qíng · lift up, hold up, support
天: tiān · sky, heaven; god, celestial

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

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Mandarin tones

1–4–2–1 · yi1 zhu4 qing2 tian1

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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.

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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) to shoulder the heavy responsibility of high office upon one's shoulders

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

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