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滅頂之災

简灭顶之灾 · 繁滅頂之災

Mandarin · pinyin miè dǐng zhī zāi

(idiom) catastrophic disaster; devastating calamity

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Characters in this entry

滅: Look up this written character
頂: Look up this written character
之: zhī · marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to
災: Look up this written character
灭: miè · extinguish; wipe out, exterminate
顶: dǐng · top, summit, peak; to carry on the head
灾: zāi · calamity, disaster, catastrophe

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

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Mandarin tones

4–3–1–1 · mie4 ding3 zhi1 zai1

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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.

滅頂之災 · find source passages ↗ · 灭顶之灾 · find source passages ↗

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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) devastating catastrophe

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

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