蘭摧玉折

简 兰摧玉折 · 繁 蘭摧玉折
Mandarin · pinyin lán cuī yù zhé

Meanings

  1. premature death of a budding talent
  2. those whom the Gods love die young
Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

蘭
Look up this written character
摧
cuī · destroy, break, injure
玉
yù · jade, precious stone, gem
折
zhé · break off, snap; bend
兰
lán · orchid; elegant, graceful
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

2–1–4–2 · lan2 cui1 yu4 zhe2

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

4character 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.

蘭摧玉折 · find source passages ↗ · 兰摧玉折 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

laan4 ceoi1 juk6 zit3

Cantonese word readings for 蘭摧玉折. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

蘭摧玉折 · lan2 cui1 yu4 zhe2
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 96,725
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record蘭摧玉折 兰摧玉折 [lan2 cui1 yu4 zhe2] /premature death of a budding talent/those whom the Gods love die young/