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生龍活虎

简生龙活虎 · 繁生龍活虎

Mandarin · pinyin shēng lóng huó hǔ

lit. lively dragon and animated tiger (idiom)
fig. vigorous and lively

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Characters in this entry

生: shēng · life, living, lifetime; birth
龍: Look up this written character
活: huó · live, exist, survive; lively
虎: hǔ · tiger; brave, fierce; surname
龙: lóng · dragon; symbolic of emperor

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

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Mandarin tones

1–2–2–3 · sheng1 long2 huo2 hu3

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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.

生龍活虎 · find source passages ↗ · 生龙活虎 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

saang1 lung4 wut6 fu2

Cantonese word readings for 生龍活虎. 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) energetic; spirited; lively

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

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