彌留之際

简 弥留之际 · 繁 彌留之際
Mandarin · pinyin mí liú zhī jì

Meanings

  1. on one's deathbed
  2. at the point of death
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Characters in this entry

彌
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留
liú · stop, halt; stay, detain, keep
之
zhī · marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to
際
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弥
mí · extensive, full; fill; complete
际
jì · border, boundary, juncture
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

2–2–1–4 · mi2 liu2 zhi1 ji4

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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.

彌留之際 · find source passages ↗ · 弥留之际 · find source passages ↗

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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

  1. (idiomatic) When one is ill and on one's deathbed.

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

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