要命

Chinese

		important; vital; to want important; vital; to want; to be going to; must; demand; ask; request; coerce	life; fate
trad. (要命)		要	命
simp. #(要命)		要	命

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): yàomìng

  (Zhuyin): ㄧㄠˋ ㄇㄧㄥˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): jiu³ meng⁶

• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): iàu-bēng

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: yàomìng
    • Zhuyin: ㄧㄠˋ ㄇㄧㄥˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: yàomìng
    • Wade–Giles: yao⁴-ming⁴
    • Yale: yàu-mìng
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: yawminq
    • Palladius: яомин (jaomin)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /jɑʊ̯⁵¹⁻⁵³ miŋ⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: jiu³ meng⁶
    • Yale: yiu mehng
    • Cantonese Pinyin: jiu³ meng⁶
    • Guangdong Romanization: yiu³ méng⁶
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /jiːu̯³³ mɛːŋ²²/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: iàu-bēng
    • Tâi-lô: iàu-bīng
    • Phofsit Daibuun: iao'beng
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /iau⁴¹⁻⁵⁵⁴ biɪŋ⁴¹/
    • IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou): /iau²¹⁻⁵³ biɪŋ²²/

Verb

要命

1. to cause death

Synonyms

• 致命 (zhìmìng)

Adjective

要命

1. annoying; irritating
2. dangerous; perilous
3. extreme

   熱得要命／热得要命  ―  rè de yàomìng  ―  terribly hot

Usage notes

• When 要命 is used to mean "extreme", it is usually used as a complement after an adjective and 得 (de). When used in this construction, it can be translated as "extremely", "awfully" or "terribly".

Synonyms

• (Cantonese) 攞命／𫽋命
• (Min Nan) 買命／买命
• (extreme): 半死 (bànsǐ); (Hokkien) 半小死, 半囝, 半倒死