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凶多吉少

Mandarin · pinyin xiōng duō jí shǎo

(lit.) everything bodes ill, no positive signs (idiom)
(fig.) inauspicious; everything points to disaster

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Characters in this entry

凶: xiōng · culprit; murder; bad, sad
多: duō · much, many; more than, over
吉: jí · lucky, propitious, good
少: shǎo · few, less, inadequate

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

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Mandarin tones

1–1–2–3 · xiong1 duo1 ji2 shao3

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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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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

hung1 do1 gat1 siu2

Cantonese word readings for 凶多吉少. 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 be more ominous than propitious; fraught with grim possibilities

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

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