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急如星火

Mandarin · pinyin jí rú xīng huǒ

lit. as hurried as a shooting star (idiom); requiring immediate action
extremely urgent

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Characters in this entry

急: jí · quick, quickly; urgent, pressing
如: rú · if, supposing; as if; like, as
星: xīng · a star, planet; any point of light; 25th lunar mansion, determinative star α Hydrae (Alphard)
火: huǒ · fire, flame; burn; anger, rage

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

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Mandarin tones

2–2–1–3 · ji2 ru2 xing1 huo3

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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 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

gap1 jyu4 sing1 fo2

Cantonese word readings for 急如星火. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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