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窮山惡水

简穷山恶水 · 繁窮山惡水

Mandarin · pinyin qióng shān è shuǐ

lit. barren hills and wild rivers (idiom)
fig. inhospitable natural environment

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Characters in this entry

窮: Look up this written character
山: shān · mountain, hill, peak
惡: Look up this written character
水: shuǐ · water, liquid, lotion, juice
穷: qióng · poor, destitute, impoverished
恶: è · evil, wicked, bad, foul

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

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Mandarin tones

2–1–4–3 · qiong2 shan1 e4 shui3

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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.

窮山惡水 · find source passages ↗ · 穷山恶水 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

kung4 saan1 ok3 seoi2

Cantonese word readings for 窮山惡水. 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) very poor and adverse natural environment

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

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