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養家活口

简养家活口 · 繁養家活口

Mandarin · pinyin yǎng jiā huó kǒu

to support one's family (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

養: yǎng · raise, rear, bring up; support
家: jiā · house, home, residence; family
活: huó · live, exist, survive; lively
口: kǒu · mouth; open end; entrance, gate
养: yǎng · raise, rear, bring up; support

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

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Mandarin tones

3–1–2–3 · yang3 jia1 huo2 kou3

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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.

養家活口 · find source passages ↗ · 养家活口 · 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 support one's family financially; to provide for one's family

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

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