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歲不我與

简岁不我与 · 繁歲不我與

Mandarin · pinyin suì bù wǒ yǔ

Time and tide wait for no man (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

歲: suì · year; age; harvest
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
我: wǒ · our, us, i, me, my, we
與: Look up this written character
岁: suì · year; age; harvest
与: yǔ · and; with; to; for; give, grant

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

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Mandarin tones

4–4–3–3 · sui4 bu4 wo3 yu3

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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.

歲不我與 · find source passages ↗ · 岁不我与 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

seoi3 bat1 ngo5 jyu5

Cantonese word readings for 歲不我與. 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 have missed an opportunity; time and tide wait for no man

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

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