DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

生死有命

Mandarin · pinyin shēng sǐ yǒu mìng

life and death are ruled by fate (idiom)

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

生: shēng · life, living, lifetime; birth
死: sǐ · die; dead; death
有: yǒu · have, own, possess; exist
命: mìng · life; destiny, fate, luck; an order, instruction

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

1–3–3–4 · sheng1 si3 you3 ming4

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

4character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

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.

生死有命 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Rime

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

sang1 sei2 jau5 ming6

Cantonese word readings for 生死有命. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack