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嘔心瀝血

简呕心沥血 · 繁嘔心瀝血

Mandarin · pinyin ǒu xīn lì xuè

lit. to spit out one's heart and spill blood (idiom)
to work one's heart out
blood, sweat and tears

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Characters in this entry

嘔: Look up this written character
心: xīn · heart; mind, intelligence; soul; 5th lunar mansion, determinative star α Scorpii (Antares)
瀝: Look up this written character
血: xuè · blood; Kangxi radical 143
呕: ǒu · vomit; annoy, enrage
沥: lì · trickle, drip; strain; dregs

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

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Mandarin tones

3–1–4–4 · ou3 xin1 li4 xue4

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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.

嘔心瀝血 · find source passages ↗ · 呕心沥血 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

au2 sam1 lik1 hyut3

Cantonese word readings for 嘔心瀝血. 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) determination and hard work; put your blood, sweat and tears into it

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

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