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生殺大權

简生杀大权 · 繁生殺大權

Mandarin · pinyin shēng shā dà quán

life-and-death power
ultimate power

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Characters in this entry

生: shēng · life, living, lifetime; birth
殺: Look up this written character
大: dà · big, great, vast, large, high
權: Look up this written character
杀: shā · kill, slaughter, murder; hurt
权: quán · power, right, authority

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

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Mandarin tones

1–1–4–2 · sheng1 sha1 da4 quan2

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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.

生殺大權 · find source passages ↗ · 生杀大权 · 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) life-and-death power; ultimate power

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

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