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孤苦伶仃

Mandarin · pinyin gū kǔ líng dīng

solitary and impoverished (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

孤: gū · orphan, fatherless; solitary
苦: kǔ · bitter; hardship, suffering
伶: líng · lonely, solitary; actor
仃: dīng · lonely, solitary

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

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Mandarin tones

1–3–2–1 · gu1 ku3 ling2 ding1

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4character links1same-tone record

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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

gu1 fu2 ling4 ding1

Cantonese word readings for 孤苦伶仃. 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) solitary and impoverished

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

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