面朝黃土背朝天

简 面朝黄土背朝天 · 繁 面朝黃土背朝天
Mandarin · pinyin miàn cháo huáng tǔ bèi cháo tiān

Meanings

  1. face to the ground, back to the sky
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Characters in this entry

面
miàn · face; surface; plane; side, dimension; Kangxi radical 176
朝
cháo · dynasty; morning
黃
huáng · yellow; surname; Kangxi radical 201
土
tǔ · soil, earth; items made of earth
背
bèi · back; back side; behind; betray
天
tiān · sky, heaven; god, celestial
黄
huáng · yellow; surname
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–2–2–3–4–2–1 · mian4 chao2 huang2 tu3 bei4 chao2 tian1

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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.

面朝黃土背朝天 · find source passages ↗ · 面朝黄土背朝天 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

min6 ciu4 wong4 tou2 bui3 ciu4 tin1

Cantonese word readings for 面朝黃土背朝天. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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

面朝黃土背朝天 · mian4 chao2 huang2 tu3 bei4 chao2 tian1
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 118,125
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record面朝黃土背朝天 面朝黄土背朝天 [mian4 chao2 huang2 tu3 bei4 chao2 tian1] /face to the ground, back to the sky/