DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT
勝者王侯敗者寇
简 胜者王侯败者寇 · 繁 勝者王侯敗者寇Mandarin · pinyin shèng zhě wáng hóu bài zhě kòu
Meanings
- the winners become princes and marquises; the losers are vilified as bandits (idiom)
- history is written by the victors
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Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.
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Mandarin tones
4–3–2–2–4–3–4 · sheng4 zhe3 wang2 hou2 bai4 zhe3 kou4
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section
Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.
proverb
- synonym of 成者為王，敗者為寇 /成者为王，败者为寇 (chéng zhě wéi wáng, bài zhě wéi kòu, “Legitimacy belongs to the victor; might makes right; Used to mean a person is judged solely on whether they succeeded or failed”)
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack