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下坡路

Mandarin · pinyin xià pō lù

downhill road
(fig.) downhill path

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Characters in this entry

下: xià · under, underneath, below; down; inferior; bring down
坡: pō · slope, bank, hillside
路: lù · road, path, street; journey

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–1–4 · xia4 po1 lu4

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Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

noun

(literally) downhill road
(by extension) downward trend; (on the) decline

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

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