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國破家亡

简国破家亡 · 繁國破家亡

Mandarin · pinyin guó pò jiā wáng

the country ruined and the people starving (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

國: Look up this written character
破: pò · break, ruin, destroy; rout
家: jiā · house, home, residence; family
亡: wáng · death, destroyed; lose, perish
国: guó · nation, country, nation-state

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

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Mandarin tones

2–4–1–2 · guo2 po4 jia1 wang2

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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.

國破家亡 · find source passages ↗ · 国破家亡 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

gwok3 po3 gaa1 mong4

Cantonese word readings for 國破家亡. 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) the country perishes or is devastated and families are divided

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

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