Our mission is to provide free tools for learning Chinese. This series explores idioms and proverbs, meaningful phrases worth knowing. Today’s idiom: 「七貞九烈」.
Let’s dive into the idiom 「七貞九烈」. Its definition and application are outlined below.
In the old days, it was used to describe women who were extremely chaste and strong-willed and would rather die than lose their virginity.
The Mandarin pronunciation of this idiom is :
qī zhēn jiǔ liè
while its Cantonese pinyin is :
chat1 jing1 gau2 lit6
With so many Chinese idioms, each holding diverse meanings and uses, there is much to explore. These materials are designed to support your Chinese language studies.

