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生離死別

简生离死别 · 繁生離死別

Mandarin · pinyin shēng lí sǐ bié

separated in life and death
to part for ever

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Characters in this entry

生: shēng · life, living, lifetime; birth
離: Look up this written character
死: sǐ · die; dead; death
別: Look up this written character
离: lí · rare beast; strange; elegant
别: bié · separate, other; do not

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

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Mandarin tones

1–2–3–2 · sheng1 li2 si3 bie2

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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.

生離死別 · find source passages ↗ · 生离死别 · find source passages ↗

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

sang1 lei4 sei2 bit6

Cantonese word readings for 生離死別. 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 be parted forever by death

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

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