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Chinese/Dictionary entry

要死不活

yào sǐ bù huódictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
half dead / more dead than alive
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-f6bf9d4385d91cad. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

要死不活 要死不活 [yao4 si3 bu4 huo2] /half dead/more dead than alive/

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.

  • 要
    yāo

    (bound form) to demand / to coerce

    yào

    to want / to need / to ask for / will / shall / about to / need to / should / if (same as 要是[yào shi]) / (bound form) important

  • 死
    sǐ

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

  • 不
    bù

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

  • 活
    huó

    to live / alive / living / work / workmanship

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.