三长两短
sān​cháng​liǎng​duǎn

unexpected misfortune

  • created sense approved 三长两短/三長兩短 · sān​cháng​liǎng​duǎn · unexpected misfortune — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    三长两短 / 三長兩短

    sān​cháng​liǎng​duǎn

    unexpected misfortune

    Unexpected misfortune or accident; often used as a polite or indirect way to refer to someone's death.

    三 (literal) → 三 · sān · many 长 (literal) → 长/長 · cháng · long 两 (literal) → 两/兩 · liǎng · a few 短 (literal) → 短 · duǎn · short

    Changed: simplified, traditional, gloss, definition, pinyin, variant pinyin, variants, separable parts, decomposition

    created sense