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天長地久

简天长地久 · 繁天長地久

Mandarin · pinyin tiān cháng dì jiǔ

enduring while the world lasts (idiom)
eternal

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Characters in this entry

天: tiān · sky, heaven; god, celestial
長: zhǎng · long; length; excel in; leader; Kangxi radical 168
地: de · dì · earth; soil, ground; region
久: jiǔ · long time (ago); time passage, grow late
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

1–2–4–3 · tian1 chang2 di4 jiu3

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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.

天長地久 · find source passages ↗ · 天长地久 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

tin1 coeng4 dei6 gau2

Cantonese word readings for 天長地久. 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) enduring as the universe; everlasting and unchanging

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

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