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听天由命

tīng tiān yóu mìngdictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
(idiom) to submit to the will of heaven / to resign oneself to fate / to trust to luck
Sources & editorial notes

Reference definitions: CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source release 2026-10-27T01:55:52Z. Imported 2026-10-27. Definition wording and meaning order are retained. Recognized pronunciation references are displayed with tone marks; the original source record is available below.

Source record: cd-35536519e359d769. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

聽天由命 听天由命 [ting1 tian1 you2 ming4] /(idiom) to submit to the will of heaven; to resign oneself to fate; to trust to luck/

Reference definitions and teaching material have separate provenance.

Reference information

The definitions above are from CC-CEDICT. Examples and usage notes are available on selected entries.

Character information

View the individual characters. Their meanings do not necessarily explain the meaning of the whole word.

Other forms in these source records: 聽天由命

  • 听
    yǐn

    smile (archaic)

    tīng

    to listen to / to hear / to heed / to obey / a can (loanword from English "tin") / classifier for canned beverages / to let be / to allow (Taiwan pr. [tìng]) / (literary) to administer / to deal with (Taiwan pr. [tìng])

  • 天
    tiān

    day / sky / heaven

  • 由
    yóu

    to follow / from / because of / due to / by / via / through / (before a noun and a verb) it is for ... to ...

  • 命
    mìng

    life / fate / order or command / to assign a name, title etc

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.