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慘不忍睹

简惨不忍睹 · 繁慘不忍睹

Mandarin · pinyin cǎn bù rěn dǔ

lit. so horrible that one cannot bear to look (idiom)
fig. miserable; horrendous; atrocious

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Characters in this entry

慘: Look up this written character
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
忍: rěn · endure, bear, suffer; forbear
睹: dǔ · look at, gaze at; observe
惨: cǎn · sad, pitiful, wretched; cruel

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

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Mandarin tones

3–4–3–3 · can3 bu4 ren3 du3

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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.

慘不忍睹 · find source passages ↗ · 惨不忍睹 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

caam2 bat1 jan2 dou2

Cantonese word readings for 慘不忍睹. 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

(of people or situations) to be too horrible to look at

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

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