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天公不作美

Mandarin · pinyin tiān gōng bù zuò měi

Heaven is not cooperating (idiom)
the weather is not favorable for the planned activity

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Characters in this entry

天: tiān · sky, heaven; god, celestial
公: gōng · fair, equitable; public; duke
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
作: zuò · make; work; compose, write; act, perform
美: měi · beautiful, pretty; pleasing

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

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Mandarin tones

1–1–4–4–3 · tian1 gong1 bu4 zuo4 mei3

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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.

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Compare dictionary sources 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

tin1 gung1 bat1 zok3 mei5

Cantonese word readings for 天公不作美. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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