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悲天憫人

简悲天悯人 · 繁悲天憫人

Mandarin · pinyin bēi tiān mǐn rén

to bemoan the state of the universe and pity the fate of mankind

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Characters in this entry

悲: bēi · sorrow, grief; sorry, sad
天: tiān · sky, heaven; god, celestial
憫: Look up this written character
人: rén · man; people; mankind; someone else
悯: mǐn · pity, sympathize with, grieve for

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

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Mandarin tones

1–1–3–2 · bei1 tian1 min3 ren2

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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.

悲天憫人 · find source passages ↗ · 悲天悯人 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

bei1 tin1 man5 jan4

Cantonese word readings for 悲天憫人. 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) to bemoan the state of the universe and pity the fate of humankind

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

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