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唉聲嘆氣

简唉声叹气 · 繁唉聲嘆氣

Mandarin · pinyin āi shēng tàn qì

sighing voice, wailing breath (idiom)
to heave deep sighs
to sigh in despair

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Characters in this entry

唉: āi · alas, exclamation of surprise or pain
聲: shēng · sound, voice, noise; tone; music
嘆: Look up this written character
氣: qì · air, gas, steam, vapor; spirit
声: shēng · sound, voice, noise; tone; music
叹: tàn · sigh, admire
气: qì · steam, vapor; Kangxi radical 84

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

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Mandarin tones

1–1–4–4 · ai1 sheng1 tan4 qi4

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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.

唉聲嘆氣 · find source passages ↗ · 唉声叹气 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

aai1 seng1 taan3 hei3

Cantonese word readings for 唉聲嘆氣. 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 sigh in disappointment or alas; to heave a sigh

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

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