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硬生生

Mandarin · pinyin yìng shēng shēng

stiff
rigid
inflexible
forcibly

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Characters in this entry

硬: yìng · hard, firm, strong; obstinate
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

4–1–1 · ying4 sheng1 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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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

adv

bluntly and forcibly; stiffly and ungently
unnaturally; stiffly

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

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