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唯恐天下不亂

简唯恐天下不乱 · 繁唯恐天下不亂

Mandarin · pinyin wéi kǒng tiān xià bù luàn

to wish for the whole world to be in chaos (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

唯: wéi · only; yes
恐: kǒng · fear; fearful, apprehensive
天: tiān · sky, heaven; god, celestial
下: xià · under, underneath, below; down; inferior; bring down
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
亂: Look up this written character
乱: luàn · confusion, state of chaos, revolt

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

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Mandarin tones

2–3–1–4–4–4 · wei2 kong3 tian1 xia4 bu4 luan4

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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.

唯恐天下不亂 · find source passages ↗ · 唯恐天下不乱 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

wai4 hung2 tin1 haa6 bat1 lyun6

Cantonese word readings for 唯恐天下不亂. 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 desire to see the world in chaos

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

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