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紅顏薄命

简红颜薄命 · 繁紅顏薄命

Mandarin · pinyin hóng yán bó mìng

beautiful women suffer unhappy fates (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

紅: hóng · red, vermillion; blush, flush
顏: Look up this written character
薄: báo · bó · thin, slight, weak; poor, stingy
命: mìng · life; destiny, fate, luck; an order, instruction
红: hóng · red, vermillion; blush, flush
颜: yán · face, facial appearance

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

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Mandarin tones

2–2–2–4 · hong2 yan2 bo2 ming4

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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.

紅顏薄命 · find source passages ↗ · 红颜薄命 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

hung4 ngaan4 bok6 ming6

Cantonese word readings for 紅顏薄命. 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) beautiful women often suffer unhappy fates

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

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