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刀山火海

Mandarin · pinyin dāo shān huǒ hǎi

lit. mountains of daggers and seas of flames
fig. extreme danger (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

刀: dāo · knife; old coin; measure
山: shān · mountain, hill, peak
火: huǒ · fire, flame; burn; anger, rage
海: hǎi · sea, ocean; maritime

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

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Mandarin tones

1–1–3–3 · dao1 shan1 huo3 hai3

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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

dou1 saan1 fo2 hoi2

Cantonese word readings for 刀山火海. 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) mountains of daggers and seas of flames; (figurative) extreme danger

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

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