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醉生夢死

简醉生梦死 · 繁醉生夢死

Mandarin · pinyin zuì shēng mèng sǐ

as if drunk or entranced (idiom); leading a befuddled existence
in a drunken stupor

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Characters in this entry

醉: zuì · intoxicated, drunk; addicted to
生: shēng · life, living, lifetime; birth
夢: Look up this written character
死: sǐ · die; dead; death
梦: mèng · dream; visionary; wishful

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

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Mandarin tones

4–1–4–3 · zui4 sheng1 meng4 si3

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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.

醉生夢死 · find source passages ↗ · 醉生梦死 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

zeoi3 sang1 mung6 sei2

Cantonese word readings for 醉生夢死. 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 lead a befuddled life as if one is drunk or dreaming

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

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