出师未捷身先死

Traditional: 出師未捷身先死

chū shī wèi jié shēn xiān sǐ

Dictionary entry

"he failed to complete his quest before death" (line from the poem "The Premier of Shu" 蜀相[Shu3 xiang4] by Du Fu 杜甫[Du4 Fu3])

What does 出师未捷身先死 mean?

出师未捷身先死 (chū shī wèi jié shēn xiān sǐ) has the following dictionary meaning.

1"he failed to complete his quest before death" (line from the poem "The Premier of Shu" 蜀相[Shu3 xiang4] by Du Fu 杜甫[Du4 Fu3])

Character breakdown

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出chūto go out; to come out · to arise; to occur 师Shīsurname Shi 未wèinot yet · did not 捷jiévariant of 捷[jie2] · quick 身shēnbody · life 先xiānbeforehand; first; earlier · at first; originally 死sǐto die · impassable

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How to pronounce 出师未捷身先死

出师未捷身先死

chū shī wèi jié shēn xiān sǐ

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Base dictionary data: CC-CEDICT · CC BY-SA 4.0.