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性命攸關

简性命攸关 · 繁性命攸關

Mandarin · pinyin xìng mìng yōu guān

vitally important
a matter of life and death

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Characters in this entry

性: xìng · nature, character, sex
命: mìng · life; destiny, fate, luck; an order, instruction
攸: yōu · distant, far; adverbial prefix
關: Look up this written character
关: guān · frontier pass; close; relation

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

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Mandarin tones

4–4–1–1 · xing4 ming4 you1 guan1

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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.

性命攸關 · find source passages ↗ · 性命攸关 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

sing3 ming6 jau4 gwaan1

Cantonese word readings for 性命攸關. 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) very important

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

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