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遺臭萬年

简遗臭万年 · 繁遺臭萬年

Mandarin · pinyin yí chòu wàn nián

to have one's name go down in history as a byword for infamy (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

遺: Look up this written character
臭: chòu · smell, stink, emit foul odor
萬: Look up this written character
年: nián · year; new-years; person's age
遗: yí · lose; articles lost; omit
万: wàn · mò · ten thousand; innumerable

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

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Mandarin tones

2–4–4–2 · yi2 chou4 wan4 nian2

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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.

遺臭萬年 · find source passages ↗ · 遗臭万年 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

wai4 cau3 maan6 nin4

Cantonese word readings for 遺臭萬年. 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 go down in history as a byword of infamy; to leave a herostratic fame.

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

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