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度日如年

Mandarin · pinyin dù rì rú nián

a day drags past like a year (idiom); time hangs heavy
time crawls when one is wretched

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Characters in this entry

度: dù · degree, system; manner; to consider
日: rì · sun; day; daytime
如: rú · if, supposing; as if; like, as
年: nián · year; new-years; person's age

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

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Mandarin tones

4–4–2–2 · du4 ri4 ru2 nian2

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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

dou6 jat6 jyu4 nin4

Cantonese word readings for 度日如年. 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

(simile) days wear on like years

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

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