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高處不勝寒

简高处不胜寒 · 繁高處不勝寒

Mandarin · pinyin gāo chù bù shèng hán

it's lonely at the top (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

高: gāo · high, tall; lofty, elevated; Kangxi radical 189
處: Look up this written character
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
勝: shèng · victory; excel, be better than
寒: hán · cold, wintry, chilly
处: chù · place, locale; department
胜: shèng · victory; excel, be better than

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

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Mandarin tones

1–4–4–4–2 · gao1 chu4 bu4 sheng4 han2

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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.

高處不勝寒 · find source passages ↗ · 高处不胜寒 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

gou1 cyu3 bat1 sing1 hon4

Cantonese word readings for 高處不勝寒. 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.

proverb

it's lonely at the top

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

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