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蟻族

简蚁族 · 繁蟻族

Mandarin · pinyin yǐ zú

"ant tribe", college graduates who endure cramped living conditions while trying to develop a career

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Characters in this entry

蟻: Look up this written character
族: zú · a family clan, ethnic group, tribe
蚁: yǐ · ants

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

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Mandarin tones

3–2 · yi3 zu2

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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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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

ngai5 zuk6

Cantonese word readings for 蟻族. 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.

noun

(neologism, slang) group of low income university graduates who settle for a poverty-level existence in the cities of China

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

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