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當務之急

简当务之急 · 繁當務之急

Mandarin · pinyin dāng wù zhī jí

(idiom) top priority job; a matter of the greatest urgency

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Characters in this entry

當: dāng · bear, accept, undertake; just
務: Look up this written character
之: zhī · marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to
急: jí · quick, quickly; urgent, pressing
当: dāng · bear, accept, undertake; just
务: wù · affairs, business; must, should

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

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Mandarin tones

1–4–1–2 · dang1 wu4 zhi1 ji2

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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.

當務之急 · find source passages ↗ · 当务之急 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

dong1 mou6 zi1 gap1

Cantonese word readings for 當務之急. 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) pressing matter of the moment; task of top priority; matter of great urgency

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

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