"未知生,焉知死" meaning in All languages combined

See 未知生,焉知死 on Wiktionary

Phrase [Chinese]

IPA: /weɪ̯⁵¹ ʈ͡ʂʐ̩⁵⁵ ʂɤŋ⁵⁵ jɛn⁵⁵ ʈ͡ʂʐ̩⁵⁵ sz̩²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/ [Mandarin, Standard-Chinese, Sinological-IPA]
Etymology: From the Analects, Book 11 (《論語·先進》) Etymology templates: {{lang|zh|(《論語·先進》)}} (《論語·先進》) Head templates: {{head|zh|idiom}} 未知生,焉知死
  1. While you do not know life, how can you know about death? Wikipedia link: Zhong You Tags: idiomatic
    Sense id: en-未知生,焉知死-zh-phrase-mt8NTSaC Categories (other): Chinese entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries
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      "english": "Jilu asked about serving the spirits of the dead. The Master said, \"While you are not able to serve men, how can you serve their spirits?\" Ji Lu added, \"I venture to ask about death?\" He was answered, \"While you do not know life, how can you know about death?\"",
      "raw_tags": [
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      "ref": " The Analects of Confucius, c. 475 – 221 BCE, translated based on James Legge's version",
      "roman": "Jìlù wèn shì guǐshén. Zǐyuē: “Wèi néng shì rén, yān néng shì guǐ?” Gǎnwèn sǐ. Yuē: “Wèi zhī shēng, yān zhī sǐ?”",
      "tags": [
        "Pinyin",
        "Traditional-Chinese"
      ],
      "text": "季路問事鬼神。子曰:「未能事人,焉能事鬼?」敢問死。曰:「未知生,焉知死?」",
      "type": "quote"
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      "english": "Jilu asked about serving the spirits of the dead. The Master said, \"While you are not able to serve men, how can you serve their spirits?\" Ji Lu added, \"I venture to ask about death?\" He was answered, \"While you do not know life, how can you know about death?\"",
      "raw_tags": [
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      "ref": " The Analects of Confucius, c. 475 – 221 BCE, translated based on James Legge's version",
      "roman": "Jìlù wèn shì guǐshén. Zǐyuē: “Wèi néng shì rén, yān néng shì guǐ?” Gǎnwèn sǐ. Yuē: “Wèi zhī shēng, yān zhī sǐ?”",
      "tags": [
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        "Simplified-Chinese"
      ],
      "text": "季路问事鬼神。子曰:「未能事人,焉能事鬼?」敢问死。曰:「未知生,焉知死?」",
      "type": "quote"
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          "kind": "other",
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        {
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      "glosses": [
        "While you do not know life, how can you know about death?"
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  "sounds": [
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      "tags": [
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      ],
      "zh_pron": "wèi zhī shēng"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Pinyin"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "yān zhī sǐ"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Bopomofo"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "ㄨㄟˋ ㄓ ㄕㄥ"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Bopomofo"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "ㄧㄢ ㄓ ㄙˇ"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Pinyin"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "wèi zhī shēng"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Pinyin"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "yān zhī sǐ"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Bopomofo"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "ㄨㄟˋ ㄓ ㄕㄥ"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Bopomofo"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "ㄧㄢ ㄓ ㄙˇ"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Tongyong-Pinyin"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "wèi jhih sheng"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Tongyong-Pinyin"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "yan jhih sǐh"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Wade-Giles"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "wei⁴ chih¹ shêng¹"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Wade-Giles"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "yen¹ chih¹ ssŭ³"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Yale"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "wèi jr̄ shēng-"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Yale"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "yān jr̄ sž"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Gwoyeu-Romatsyh"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "wey jy sheng"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Gwoyeu-Romatsyh"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "ian jy syy"
    },
    {
      "roman": "vɛj čži šɛn, janʹ čži sy",
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Palladius"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "вэй чжи шэн"
    },
    {
      "roman": "vɛj čži šɛn, janʹ čži sy",
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Palladius"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "янь чжи сы"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/weɪ̯⁵¹ ʈ͡ʂʐ̩⁵⁵ ʂɤŋ⁵⁵ jɛn⁵⁵ ʈ͡ʂʐ̩⁵⁵ sz̩²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/",
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Sinological-IPA"
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  ],
  "word": "未知生,焉知死"
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      "english": "Jilu asked about serving the spirits of the dead. The Master said, \"While you are not able to serve men, how can you serve their spirits?\" Ji Lu added, \"I venture to ask about death?\" He was answered, \"While you do not know life, how can you know about death?\"",
      "raw_tags": [
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      "tags": [
        "Pinyin",
        "Traditional-Chinese"
      ],
      "text": "季路問事鬼神。子曰:「未能事人,焉能事鬼?」敢問死。曰:「未知生,焉知死?」",
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      "english": "Jilu asked about serving the spirits of the dead. The Master said, \"While you are not able to serve men, how can you serve their spirits?\" Ji Lu added, \"I venture to ask about death?\" He was answered, \"While you do not know life, how can you know about death?\"",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Traditional Chinese poetry"
      ],
      "ref": " The Analects of Confucius, c. 475 – 221 BCE, translated based on James Legge's version",
      "roman": "Jìlù wèn shì guǐshén. Zǐyuē: “Wèi néng shì rén, yān néng shì guǐ?” Gǎnwèn sǐ. Yuē: “Wèi zhī shēng, yān zhī sǐ?”",
      "tags": [
        "Pinyin",
        "Simplified-Chinese"
      ],
      "text": "季路问事鬼神。子曰:「未能事人,焉能事鬼?」敢问死。曰:「未知生,焉知死?」",
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        "Chinese lemmas",
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        "Chinese terms spelled with 未",
        "Chinese terms spelled with 死",
        "Chinese terms spelled with 焉",
        "Chinese terms spelled with 生",
        "Chinese terms spelled with 知",
        "Chinese terms with IPA pronunciation",
        "Mandarin idioms",
        "Mandarin lemmas",
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        "While you do not know life, how can you know about death?"
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      "zh_pron": "wèi zhī shēng"
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      "zh_pron": "yān zhī sǐ"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
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      ],
      "zh_pron": "ㄨㄟˋ ㄓ ㄕㄥ"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Bopomofo"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "ㄧㄢ ㄓ ㄙˇ"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Pinyin"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "wèi zhī shēng"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Pinyin"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "yān zhī sǐ"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Bopomofo"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "ㄨㄟˋ ㄓ ㄕㄥ"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Bopomofo"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "ㄧㄢ ㄓ ㄙˇ"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Tongyong-Pinyin"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "wèi jhih sheng"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Tongyong-Pinyin"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "yan jhih sǐh"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Wade-Giles"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "wei⁴ chih¹ shêng¹"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Wade-Giles"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "yen¹ chih¹ ssŭ³"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Yale"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "wèi jr̄ shēng-"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Yale"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "yān jr̄ sž"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Gwoyeu-Romatsyh"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "wey jy sheng"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Gwoyeu-Romatsyh"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "ian jy syy"
    },
    {
      "roman": "vɛj čži šɛn, janʹ čži sy",
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Palladius"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "вэй чжи шэн"
    },
    {
      "roman": "vɛj čži šɛn, janʹ čži sy",
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Standard-Chinese",
        "Palladius"
      ],
      "zh_pron": "янь чжи сы"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/weɪ̯⁵¹ ʈ͡ʂʐ̩⁵⁵ ʂɤŋ⁵⁵ jɛn⁵⁵ ʈ͡ʂʐ̩⁵⁵ sz̩²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/",
      "tags": [
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      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "未知生,焉知死"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-08-12 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-08-02 using wiktextract (7cef23e and 3c020d2). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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