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生死關頭

简生死关头 · 繁生死關頭

Mandarin · pinyin shēng sǐ guān tóu

the critical moment
life and death crisis

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Characters in this entry

生: shēng · life, living, lifetime; birth
死: sǐ · die; dead; death
關: Look up this written character
頭: tóu · head; top; chief, first; boss
关: guān · frontier pass; close; relation
头: tóu · head; top; chief, first; boss

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

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Mandarin tones

1–3–1–2 · sheng1 si3 guan1 tou2

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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.

生死關頭 · find source passages ↗ · 生死关头 · 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.

noun

life-or-death moment; a moment which determines one's survival

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

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