DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

不歸路

简不归路 · 繁不歸路

Mandarin · pinyin bù guī lù

road to ruin; course of action from which there is no turning back

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
歸: Look up this written character
路: lù · road, path, street; journey
归: guī · return; return to, revert to

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

4–1–4 · bu4 gui1 lu4

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

3character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

Read this spelling in Classical texts

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.

不歸路 · find source passages ↗ · 不归路 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

noun

(figurative) the road that never returns; road of no return; path of destruction or death; point of no return

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

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