法家

Mandarin · pinyin Fǎ jiā

Meanings

  1. the Legalist school of political philosophy, which rose to prominence in the Warring States period (475–221 BC) (The Legalists believed that social harmony could only be attained through strong state control, and advocated for a system of rigidly applied punishments and rewards for specific behaviors.)
  2. a Legalist
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Characters in this entry

法
fǎ · law, rule, regulation, statute; France, French
家
jiā · house, home, residence; family
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

3–1 · Fa3 jia1

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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.

noun

  1. (philosophy) Legalism

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

法家 · Fa3 jia1
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 63,909
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record法家 法家 [Fa3 jia1] /the Legalist school of political philosophy, which rose to prominence in the Warring States period (475–221 BC) (The Legalists believed that social harmony could only be attained through strong state control, and advocated for a system of rigidly applied punishments and rewards for specific behaviors.)/a Legalist/