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哀莫大于心死

āi mò dà yú xīn sǐdictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
nothing sadder than a withered heart (idiom attributed to Confucius by Zhuangzi 莊子|庄子[Zhuāng zǐ]) / no greater sorrow than a heart that never rejoices / the worst sorrow is not as bad as an uncaring heart / nothing is more wretched than apathy
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-5688017f53df2642. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

哀莫大於心死 哀莫大于心死 [ai1 mo4 da4 yu2 xin1 si3] /nothing sadder than a withered heart (idiom attributed to Confucius by Zhuangzi 莊子|庄子[Zhuang1 zi3])/no greater sorrow than a heart that never rejoices/the worst sorrow is not as bad as an uncaring heart/nothing is more wretched than apathy/

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: 哀莫大於心死

  • 哀
    āi

    (bound form) sorrow / grief / pity / (bound form) to grieve for / to pity / to lament / to condole

    Āi

    Ai (c. 2000 BC), sixth of legendary Flame Emperors 炎帝[Yán dì] descended from Shennong 神農|神农[Shén nóng] Farmer God, also known as Li 釐|厘[Lí]

  • 莫
    mò

    do not / there is none who

    Mò

    surname Mo

  • 大
    dà

    big / large / great / older (than another person) / eldest (as in 大姐[dà jiě]) / greatly / freely / fully / (dialect) father / (dialect) uncle (father's brother)

    dài

    see 大夫[dài fu]

  • 于
    yú

    to go / to take / sentence-final interrogative particle / (of time or place) in / at / on / (indicating any indirect relation) to / toward / vis-à-vis / with regard to / for / (indicating a source) from / out of / (used in comparison) than / (used in the passive voice) by

    Yú

    surname Yu

  • 心
    xīn

    heart / mind / intention / center / core / CL:顆|颗[kē],個|个[gè]

  • 死
    sǐ

    to die / impassable / uncrossable / inflexible / rigid / extremely / damned

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.