壽命不長

简 寿命不长 · 繁 壽命不長
Mandarin · pinyin shòu mìng bù cháng

Meanings

  1. one's days are numbered
  2. not to have long to live (often fig.)
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Characters in this entry

壽
Look up this written character
命
mìng · life; destiny, fate, luck; an order, instruction
不
bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
長
zhǎng · long; length; excel in; leader; Kangxi radical 168
寿
shòu · old age, long life; lifespan
长
zhǎng · long; length; excel in; leader
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–4–4–2 · shou4 ming4 bu4 chang2

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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.

壽命不長 · find source passages ↗ · 寿命不长 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

sau6 ming6 bat1 coeng4

Cantonese word readings for 壽命不長. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

壽命不長 · shou4 ming4 bu4 chang2
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 26,958
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record壽命不長 寿命不长 [shou4 ming4 bu4 chang2] /one's days are numbered/not to have long to live (often fig.)/