死活

sǐhuó
  1. life or death
  2. fate
  3. no matter what
  4. anyway
  5. for the life of me

CEDICT

  1. (used in negative sentences) simply; anyway; would (not) do something no matter what
  2. life or death; fate
  3. simply; anyway; would (not) do something no matter what

Wiktionary

  1. 生与死。
  2. 无论如何。

重編國語辭典

Examples

她的地址死活想不起来。

I can't for the life of me remember her address.

I can't remember her address no matter how much I try.

Source: Tatoeba

Entry Composition

1 死 sǐ
  1. to die
  2. impassable
  3. uncrossable
  4. inflexible
  5. rigid
  6. extremely
  7. damned
2 活 huó
  1. to live
  2. alive
  3. living
  4. work
  5. workmanship

Containing this entry

不知死活 bùzhīsǐhuó to act recklessly (idiom)
死活不顾 sǐhuóbùgù regardless of life or death (idiom)

Related entries

死生 sǐshēng
  1. life or death
  2. critical (event)
生死 shēngsǐ life or death
气数 qìshu
  1. fate
  2. destiny
  3. one's lot
祸福吉凶 huòfújíxiōng
  1. fate
  2. portent
  3. luck or disasters as foretold in the stars (astrology)
运命 yùnmìng
  1. fate
  2. one's fortune
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