人在江湖，身不由己 (jan4 zoi6 gong1 wu4, san1 bat1 yau4 gei2 | ren2 zai4 jiang1 hu2, shen1 bu4 you2 ji3) : to have little control over one's fate due to social constraints

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人在江湖，身不由己

jan4 zoi6 gong1 wu4, san1 bat1 yau4 gei2

ren2 zai4 jiang1 hu2, shen1 bu4 you2 ji3

to have little control over one's fate due to social constrains | [粵]: 人在江湖身不由主

Level: 3
This term is used in both Cantonese and Mandarin/Standard written Chinese.

人在江湖，身不由己

This word has been viewed 2513 times since 30th Oct 2012, was added by Michael 忠仔 on 4th Sep 2009 04:02 and last edited on 16th Jun 2020 18:43

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Characters in this word:

人 jan4 - person; human being
在 zoi6 - at; in; on
江 gong1 - large river; Chinese surname
湖 wu4 - lake
， - (not in database)
身 san1 - body; life; oneself
不 bat1 - not; no; un-
由 jau4 - cause, reason; from
己 gei2 - oneself; one's own

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Decimal representation of this word: 人在江湖，身不由己

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