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人定勝天

简人定胜天 · 繁人定勝天

Mandarin · pinyin rén dìng shèng tiān

man can conquer nature (idiom); human wisdom can prevail over nature

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Characters in this entry

人: rén · man; people; mankind; someone else
定: dìng · decide, settle, fix
勝: shèng · victory; excel, be better than
天: tiān · sky, heaven; god, celestial
胜: shèng · victory; excel, be better than

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

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Mandarin tones

2–4–4–1 · ren2 ding4 sheng4 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.

人定勝天 · find source passages ↗ · 人定胜天 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

jan4 ding6 sing3 tin1

Cantonese word readings for 人定勝天. 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.

proverb

Man's determination will triumph over nature.

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

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