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事與願違

简事与愿违 · 繁事與願違

Mandarin · pinyin shì yǔ yuàn wéi

things turn out contrary to the way one wishes (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

事: shì · affair, matter, business; to serve; accident, incident
與: Look up this written character
願: Look up this written character
違: Look up this written character
与: yǔ · and; with; to; for; give, grant
愿: yuàn · sincere, honest, virtuous
违: wéi · disobey, violate, defy; be apart from

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

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Mandarin tones

4–3–4–2 · shi4 yu3 yuan4 wei2

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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.

事與願違 · find source passages ↗ · 事与愿违 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

si6 jyu5 jyun6 wai4

Cantonese word readings for 事與願違. 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) to get the opposite of what one intended

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

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