修昔底德陷阱

Mandarin · pinyin Xiū xī dǐ dé xiàn jǐng

Meanings

  1. Thucydides Trap (theory that war may result when a rising power threatens to displace an established power)
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Characters in this entry

修
xiū · study; repair; cultivate
昔
xī · formerly; ancient; in beginning
底
dǐ · bottom, underneath, underside
德
dé · ethics, morality, virtue
陷
xiàn · submerge, sink, plunge; trap
阱
jǐng · pitfall, trap, snare
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1–1–3–2–4–3 · Xiu1 xi1 di3 de2 xian4 jing3

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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.

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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. Thucydides trap

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

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

修昔底德陷阱 · Xiu1 xi1 di3 de2 xian4 jing3
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 8,424
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record修昔底德陷阱 修昔底德陷阱 [Xiu1 xi1 di3 de2 xian4 jing3] /Thucydides Trap (theory that war may result when a rising power threatens to displace an established power)/