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大難臨頭

简大难临头 · 繁大難臨頭

Mandarin · pinyin dà nàn lín tóu

to be facing imminent calamity (idiom)
disaster is looming

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Characters in this entry

大: dà · big, great, vast, large, high
難: Look up this written character
臨: Look up this written character
頭: tóu · head; top; chief, first; boss
难: nán · difficult, arduous, hard; unable
临: lín · draw near, approach; descend
头: tóu · head; top; chief, first; boss

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

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Mandarin tones

4–4–2–2 · da4 nan4 lin2 tou2

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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.

大難臨頭 · find source passages ↗ · 大难临头 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

daai6 naan6 lam4 tau4

Cantonese word readings for 大難臨頭. 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 be faced with imminent danger

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

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