DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

付之東流

简付之东流 · 繁付之東流

Mandarin · pinyin fù zhī dōng liú

to commit to the waters (idiom); to lose sth irrevocably

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

付: fù · give, deliver, pay, hand over; entrust
之: zhī · marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to
東: dōng · east, eastern, eastward
流: liú · flow, circulate, drift; class
东: dōng · east, eastern, eastward

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

4–1–1–2 · fu4 zhi1 dong1 liu2

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

5character 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.

付之東流 · find source passages ↗ · 付之东流 · 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.

phrase

(idiomatic) synonym of 付諸東流 /付诸东流 (fùzhūdōngliú, “to go in vain; to go down the drain; to be completely wasted”)

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

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