生不如死 in Chinese

IPA: /ʂɤŋ⁵⁵ pu⁵¹ ʐu³⁵ sz̩²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/ [Mandarin, Sinological-IPA, standard], /sɐŋ⁵⁵ pɐt̚⁵ jyː²¹ sei̯³⁵/ [Cantonese, Sinological-IPA], /ʂɤŋ⁵⁵ pu⁵¹ ʐu³⁵ sz̩²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/, /sɐŋ⁵⁵ pɐt̚⁵ jyː²¹ sei̯³⁵/ Chinese transliterations: shēngbùrúsǐ [Mandarin, Pinyin], ㄕㄥㄅㄨˋ ㄖㄨˊ ㄙˇ [Mandarin, bopomofo], sang¹ bat¹ jyu⁴ sei² [Cantonese, Jyutping], shēngbùrúsǐ [Hanyu-Pinyin, Mandarin, standard], ㄕㄥㄅㄨˋ ㄖㄨˊ ㄙˇ [Mandarin, bopomofo, standard], shengbùrúsǐh [Mandarin, Tongyong-Pinyin, standard], shêng¹-pu⁴-ju²-ssŭ³ [Mandarin, Wade-Giles, standard], shēng-bù-rú-sž [Mandarin, Yale, standard], shengburusyy [Gwoyeu-Romatsyh, Mandarin, standard], шэнбужусы [Mandarin, Palladius, standard], šɛnbužusy [Mandarin, Palladius, standard], sāng bāt yùh séi [Cantonese, Yale], sang¹ bat⁷ jy⁴ sei² [Cantonese, Pinyin], seng¹ bed¹ yu⁴ séi² [Cantonese, Guangdong-Romanization] [Show additional information ▼] [Hide additional information ▲]

Head templates: {{head|zh|idiom}} 生不如死

[Show JSON for postprocessed kaikki.org data shown on this page ▼] [Hide JSON for postprocessed kaikki.org data shown on this page ▲]

{
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "zh",
        "2": "idiom"
      },
      "expansion": "生不如死",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Chinese",
  "lang_code": "zh",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Cantonese chengyu",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Chinese chengyu",
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          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
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          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "would rather be dead than alive; living hell"
      ],
      "id": "en-生不如死-zh-phrase-OSX9u6FU",
      "links": [
        [
          "rather",
          "rather"
        ],
        [
          "dead",
          "dead"
        ],
        [
          "alive",
          "alive"
        ],
        [
          "living hell",
          "living hell"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Pinyin"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "shēngbùrúsǐ"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "bopomofo"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "ㄕㄥ ㄅㄨˋ ㄖㄨˊ ㄙˇ"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Cantonese",
        "Jyutping"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "sang¹ bat¹ jyu⁴ sei²"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Hanyu-Pinyin",
        "Mandarin",
        "standard"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "shēngbùrúsǐ"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "bopomofo",
        "standard"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "ㄕㄥ ㄅㄨˋ ㄖㄨˊ ㄙˇ"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Tongyong-Pinyin",
        "standard"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "shengbùrúsǐh"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Wade-Giles",
        "standard"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "shêng¹-pu⁴-ju²-ssŭ³"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Yale",
        "standard"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "shēng-bù-rú-sž"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Gwoyeu-Romatsyh",
        "Mandarin",
        "standard"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "shengburusyy"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Palladius",
        "standard"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "шэнбужусы"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Palladius",
        "standard"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "šɛnbužusy"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ʂɤŋ⁵⁵ pu⁵¹ ʐu³⁵ sz̩²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/",
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Sinological-IPA",
        "standard"
      ]
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Cantonese",
        "Yale"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "sāng bāt yùh séi"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Cantonese",
        "Pinyin"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "sang¹ bat⁷ jy⁴ sei²"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Cantonese",
        "Guangdong-Romanization"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "seng¹ bed¹ yu⁴ séi²"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/sɐŋ⁵⁵ pɐt̚⁵ jyː²¹ sei̯³⁵/",
      "tags": [
        "Cantonese",
        "Sinological-IPA"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ʂɤŋ⁵⁵ pu⁵¹ ʐu³⁵ sz̩²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/sɐŋ⁵⁵ pɐt̚⁵ jyː²¹ sei̯³⁵/"
    }
  ],
  "word": "生不如死"
}

[Show JSON for raw wiktextract data ▼] [Hide JSON for raw wiktextract data ▲]

{
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "zh",
        "2": "idiom"
      },
      "expansion": "生不如死",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Chinese",
  "lang_code": "zh",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Cantonese chengyu",
        "Cantonese idioms",
        "Cantonese lemmas",
        "Chinese chengyu",
        "Chinese entries with incorrect language header",
        "Chinese idioms",
        "Chinese lemmas",
        "Chinese terms spelled with 不",
        "Chinese terms spelled with 如",
        "Chinese terms spelled with 死",
        "Chinese terms spelled with 生",
        "Chinese terms with IPA pronunciation",
        "Mandarin chengyu",
        "Mandarin idioms",
        "Mandarin lemmas",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "would rather be dead than alive; living hell"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "rather",
          "rather"
        ],
        [
          "dead",
          "dead"
        ],
        [
          "alive",
          "alive"
        ],
        [
          "living hell",
          "living hell"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Pinyin"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "shēngbùrúsǐ"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "bopomofo"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "ㄕㄥ ㄅㄨˋ ㄖㄨˊ ㄙˇ"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Cantonese",
        "Jyutping"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "sang¹ bat¹ jyu⁴ sei²"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Hanyu-Pinyin",
        "Mandarin",
        "standard"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "shēngbùrúsǐ"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "bopomofo",
        "standard"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "ㄕㄥ ㄅㄨˋ ㄖㄨˊ ㄙˇ"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Tongyong-Pinyin",
        "standard"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "shengbùrúsǐh"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Wade-Giles",
        "standard"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "shêng¹-pu⁴-ju²-ssŭ³"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Yale",
        "standard"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "shēng-bù-rú-sž"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Gwoyeu-Romatsyh",
        "Mandarin",
        "standard"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "shengburusyy"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Palladius",
        "standard"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "шэнбужусы"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Palladius",
        "standard"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "šɛnbužusy"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ʂɤŋ⁵⁵ pu⁵¹ ʐu³⁵ sz̩²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/",
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Sinological-IPA",
        "standard"
      ]
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Cantonese",
        "Yale"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "sāng bāt yùh séi"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Cantonese",
        "Pinyin"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "sang¹ bat⁷ jy⁴ sei²"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Cantonese",
        "Guangdong-Romanization"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "seng¹ bed¹ yu⁴ séi²"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/sɐŋ⁵⁵ pɐt̚⁵ jyː²¹ sei̯³⁵/",
      "tags": [
        "Cantonese",
        "Sinological-IPA"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ʂɤŋ⁵⁵ pu⁵¹ ʐu³⁵ sz̩²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/sɐŋ⁵⁵ pɐt̚⁵ jyː²¹ sei̯³⁵/"
    }
  ],
  "word": "生不如死"
}

[Show JSON error data ▼] [Hide JSON error data ▲]

{
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  "msg": "Zh-pron header not found in zh_pron_tags or tags: '(Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺'",
  "path": [
    "生不如死"
  ],
  "section": "Chinese",
  "subsection": "",
  "title": "生不如死",
  "trace": ""
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable Chinese dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-07-20 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-07-01 using wiktextract (45c4a21 and f1c2b61). 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.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.

"生不如死" meaning in Chinese

Phrase