DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

長吁短嘆

简长吁短叹 · 繁長吁短嘆

Mandarin · pinyin cháng xū duǎn tàn

long moan and short gasp (idiom); continually moaning and groaning in pain

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

長: zhǎng · long; length; excel in; leader; Kangxi radical 168
吁: xū · interjection 'Alas!'; to sigh
短: duǎn · short; brief; deficient, lacking
嘆: Look up this written character
长: zhǎng · long; length; excel in; leader
叹: tàn · sigh, admire

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

2–1–3–4 · chang2 xu1 duan3 tan4

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

5character 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.

長吁短嘆 · find source passages ↗ · 长吁短叹 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

coeng4 heoi1 dyun2 taan3

Cantonese word readings for 長吁短嘆. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(idiomatic) to utter sighs and groans; to moan and groan

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack