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顛沛流離

简颠沛流离 · 繁顛沛流離

Mandarin · pinyin diān pèi liú lí

homeless and miserable (idiom); to wander about in a desperate plight
to drift

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Characters in this entry

顛: Look up this written character
沛: pèi · abundant, full, copious; sudden
流: liú · flow, circulate, drift; class
離: Look up this written character
颠: diān · top, peak, summit; upset
离: lí · rare beast; strange; elegant

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

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Mandarin tones

1–4–2–2 · dian1 pei4 liu2 li2

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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.

顛沛流離 · find source passages ↗ · 颠沛流离 · find source passages ↗

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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 wander about in a desperate plight; to be destitute and homeless

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

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