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為時已晚

简为时已晚 · 繁為時已晚

Mandarin · pinyin wéi shí yǐ wǎn

already too late

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Characters in this entry

為: Look up this written character
時: shí · time, season; era, age, period
已: yǐ · already; finished; stop
晚: wǎn · night, evening; late
为: wèi · do, handle, govern, act; be
时: shí · time, season; era, age, period

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

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Mandarin tones

2–2–3–3 · wei2 shi2 yi3 wan3

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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.

為時已晚 · find source passages ↗ · 为时已晚 · 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) already too late

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

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