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焚膏繼晷

简焚膏继晷 · 繁焚膏繼晷

Mandarin · pinyin fén gāo jì guǐ

to burn the midnight oil (idiom); to work continuously night and day

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Characters in this entry

焚: fén · burn
膏: gāo · grease, fat; paste, ointment
繼: Look up this written character
晷: guǐ · shadows of sun; time; sundial
继: jì · continue, maintain, carry on

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

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Mandarin tones

2–1–4–3 · fen2 gao1 ji4 gui3

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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.

焚膏繼晷 · find source passages ↗ · 焚膏继晷 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

fan4 gou1 gai3 gwai2

Cantonese word readings for 焚膏繼晷. 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 burn the midnight oil

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

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