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苟延殘喘

简苟延残喘 · 繁苟延殘喘

Mandarin · pinyin gǒu yán cán chuǎn

(idiom) to struggle on whilst at death's door

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Characters in this entry

苟: gǒu · careless, frivolous; illicit; grammatical particle: if, but, if only; surname; grass name
延: yán · delay, postpone, defer
殘: Look up this written character
喘: chuǎn · pant, gasp, breathe heavily
残: cán · injure, spoil; oppress; broken

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

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Mandarin tones

3–2–2–3 · gou3 yan2 can2 chuan3

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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.

苟延殘喘 · find source passages ↗ · 苟延残喘 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

gau2 jin4 caan4 cyun2

Cantonese word readings for 苟延殘喘. 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 linger; to drag on one's feeble existence

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

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