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民不聊生

mín bù liáo shēngdictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
(idiom) the people have no way to make a living (from Records of the Grand Historian 史記|史记[Shǐ jì])
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-f910fe0fd4726954. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

民不聊生 民不聊生 [min2 bu4 liao2 sheng1] /(idiom) the people have no way to make a living (from Records of the Grand Historian 史記|史记[Shi3 ji4])/

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.

  • 民
    mín

    (bound form) the people / inhabitants of a country

    Mín

    surname Min

  • 不
    bù

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

  • 聊
    liáo

    (coll.) to chat / (literary) temporarily / for a while / (literary) somewhat / slightly / (literary) to depend upon

  • 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])

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.