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生不逢時

简生不逢时 · 繁生不逢時

Mandarin · pinyin shēng bù féng shí

born at the wrong time (idiom); unlucky (esp. to complain about one's fate)
born under an unlucky star
ahead of his time

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Characters in this entry

生: shēng · life, living, lifetime; birth
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
逢: féng · come upon, happen meet; flatter
時: shí · time, season; era, age, period
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

1–4–2–2 · sheng1 bu4 feng2 shi2

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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.

生不逢時 · find source passages ↗ · 生不逢时 · find source passages ↗

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

sang1 bat1 fung4 si4

Cantonese word readings for 生不逢時. 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 a rough and ill-fated life

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

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