盛氣凌人

简 盛气凌人 · 繁 盛氣凌人
Mandarin · pinyin shèng qì líng rén

Meanings

  1. overbearing
  2. arrogant bully
Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

盛
shèng · abundant, flourishing; contain; fill
氣
qì · air, gas, steam, vapor; spirit
凌
líng · pure; virtuous; insult; maltreat
人
rén · man; people; mankind; someone else
气
qì · steam, vapor; Kangxi radical 84
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

4–4–2–2 · sheng4 qi4 ling2 ren2

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

5character links
Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗
Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

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.

盛氣凌人 · find source passages ↗ · 盛气凌人 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

  1. (idiomatic) to be arrogant and overbearing and bully others

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack