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有生以來

简有生以来 · 繁有生以來

Mandarin · pinyin yǒu shēng yǐ lái

(idiom) since birth; for one's whole life

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Characters in this entry

有: yǒu · have, own, possess; exist
生: shēng · life, living, lifetime; birth
以: yǐ · by means of; thereby, therefore; consider as; in order to
來: lái · come, coming; return, returning
来: lái · come, coming; return, returning

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

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Mandarin tones

3–1–3–2 · you3 sheng1 yi3 lai2

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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.

有生以來 · find source passages ↗ · 有生以来 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(idiomatic) from birth until the present

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

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