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痛不欲生

Mandarin · pinyin tòng bù yù shēng

to be so in pain as to not want to live
to be so grieved as to wish one were dead

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Characters in this entry

痛: tòng · pain, ache; sorry, sad; bitter
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
欲: yù · desire, want, long for; intend
生: shēng · life, living, lifetime; birth

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

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Mandarin tones

4–4–4–1 · tong4 bu4 yu4 sheng1

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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.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

tung3 bat1 juk6 sang1

Cantonese word readings for 痛不欲生. 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 overwhelmed with grief to the extent that one can not go on living

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

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