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出生入死

chū shēng rù sǐdictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
from the cradle to the grave (idiom) / to go through fire and water / brave / willing to risk life and limb
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-a7e9132c96046e22. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

出生入死 出生入死 [chu1 sheng1 ru4 si3] /from the cradle to the grave (idiom); to go through fire and water/brave/willing to risk life and limb/

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.

  • 出
    chū

    to go out / to come out / to arise / to occur / to produce / to yield / to go beyond / to exceed / (used after a verb to indicate an outward direction or a positive result) / classifier for dramas, plays, operas etc

  • 生
    shēng

    to grow / to give birth / to produce / to be born / to arise / to occur / to light (a fire) / to live / to be alive / life / raw / uncooked / unprocessed / unfamiliar / strange / (bound form) student / person engaged in a field / (bound form) male role in traditional opera / (bound form) life / lifetime / (bound form) means of livelihood / (bound form) very / intensely (as in 生疼[shēng téng]) / (bound form) in a forced manner (as in 生拉硬拽[shēng lā yìng zhuài])

  • 入
    rù

    to enter / to go into / to join / to become a member of / (bound form) to conform to (as in 入時|入时[rù shí]) / abbr. for 入聲|入声[rù shēng] / (on product packaging, after {number n} + {classifier}) containing (n pieces) (from Japanese 入 "iri")

  • 死
    sǐ

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

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.