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奄奄一息

Mandarin · pinyin yǎn yǎn yī xī

dying
at one's last gasp

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Characters in this entry

奄: yǎn · ere long; remain, tarry; feeble
一: yī · one; a, an; alone
息: xī · rest, put stop to, end, cease

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

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Mandarin tones

3–3–1–1 · yan3 yan3 yi1 xi1

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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 Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

jim1 jim1 jat1 sik1

Cantonese word readings for 奄奄一息. 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) dying; breathe one's last breath

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

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