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少壮不努力，老大徒伤悲

shào zhuàng bù nǔ lì , lǎo dà tú shāng bēidictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
if you are lazy in your prime, you'll be sorry in your old age
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-d9386665c1f7e604. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

少壯不努力，老大徒傷悲 少壮不努力，老大徒伤悲 [shao4 zhuang4 bu4 nu3 li4 , lao3 da4 tu2 shang1 bei1] /if you are lazy in your prime, you'll be sorry in your old age/

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: 少壯不努力，老大徒傷悲

  • 少
    shǎo

    few / less / to lack / to be missing / to stop (doing sth) / seldom

    shào

    young

  • 壮
    zhuàng

    to strengthen / strong / robust

    Zhuàng

    Zhuang ethnic group, the largest ethnic minority in China

  • 不
    bù

    no / not so / (bound form) not / un-

  • 努
    nǔ

    to exert / to strive

  • 力
    lì

    power / force / strength / ability / strenuously

    Lì

    surname Li

  • 老
    lǎo

    prefix used before the surname of a person or a numeral indicating the order of birth of the children in a family or to indicate affection or familiarity / old (of people) / venerable (person) / experienced / of long standing / always / all the time / of the past / very / outdated / (of meat etc) tough

  • 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]

  • 徒
    tú

    (bound form) disciple / apprentice / believer / (derog.) wrongdoer (as in 騙徒|骗徒[piàn tú] "swindler" or 叛徒[pàn tú] "traitor" etc) / (bound form) on foot / (bound form) bare / empty / (bound form) to no avail / in vain / (bound form) merely / just / only / (bound form) prison sentence

    Tú

    surname Tu

  • 伤
    shāng

    to injure / injury / wound

  • 悲
    bēi

    sad / sadness / sorrow / grief

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.