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火燒眉毛

简火烧眉毛 · 繁火燒眉毛

Mandarin · pinyin huǒ shāo méi mao

lit. the fire burns one's eyebrows (idiom); fig. desperate situation
extreme emergency

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Characters in this entry

火: huǒ · fire, flame; burn; anger, rage
燒: shāo · burn; bake; heat; roast
眉: méi · eyebrows; upper margin of book
毛: máo · hair, fur, feathers; coarse
烧: shāo · burn; bake; heat; roast

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

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Mandarin tones

3–1–2–5 · huo3 shao1 mei2 mao5

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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.

火燒眉毛 · find source passages ↗ · 火烧眉毛 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

fo2 siu1 mei4 mou4

Cantonese word readings for 火燒眉毛. 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 be extremely urgent

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

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