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人命關天

简人命关天 · 繁人命關天

Mandarin · pinyin rén mìng guān tiān

human life is beyond value (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

人: rén · man; people; mankind; someone else
命: mìng · life; destiny, fate, luck; an order, instruction
關: Look up this written character
天: tiān · sky, heaven; god, celestial
关: guān · frontier pass; close; relation

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

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Mandarin tones

2–4–1–1 · ren2 ming4 guan1 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.

人命關天 · find source passages ↗ · 人命关天 · find source passages ↗

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

jan4 meng6 gwaan1 tin1

Cantonese word readings for 人命關天. 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) a case involving human life is to be treated with the utmost care
(a matter) of life and death; of vital importance

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

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