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賣命

简卖命 · 繁賣命

Mandarin · pinyin mài mìng

to work tirelessly; to give one's all; to slave away
to throw away one's life; to sacrifice oneself (usu. for an unworthy cause)

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Characters in this entry

賣: Look up this written character
命: mìng · life; destiny, fate, luck; an order, instruction
卖: mài · sell; betray; show off

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

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Mandarin tones

4–4 · mai4 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.

賣命 · find source passages ↗ · 卖命 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

maai6 meng6

Cantonese word readings for 賣命. 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.

verb

to work one's fingers to the bone for; to pour in one's utmost effort

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

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