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後生可畏

简后生可畏 · 繁後生可畏

Mandarin · pinyin hòu shēng kě wèi

the young will be redoubtable in the years to come (idiom)
the younger generations will surpass us in time

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Characters in this entry

後: hòu · behind, rear, after; descendents
生: shēng · life, living, lifetime; birth
可: kě · may, can, -able; possibly
畏: wèi · fear, dread, awe, reverence
后: hòu · queen, empress, sovereign; (simp. for 後) behind, rear, after

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

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Mandarin tones

4–1–3–4 · hou4 sheng1 ke3 wei4

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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.

後生可畏 · find source passages ↗ · 后生可畏 · find source passages ↗

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

hau6 sang1 ho2 wai3

Cantonese word readings for 後生可畏. 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) a young person displaying exceptional skills; a young person's abilities must be respected; though inexperienced, the younger generations will surpass us in time

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

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