DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

債臺高築

简债台高筑 · 繁債臺高築

Mandarin · pinyin zhài tái gāo zhù

lit. build a high desk of debt (idiom); heavily in debt

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

債: Look up this written character
臺: Look up this written character
高: gāo · high, tall; lofty, elevated; Kangxi radical 189
築: Look up this written character
债: zhài · debt, loan, liabilities
台: tái · platform; unit; term of address
筑: zhù · ancient lute; build

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

4–2–1–4 · zhai4 tai2 gao1 zhu4

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.

債臺高築 · find source passages ↗ · 债台高筑 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

zaai3 toi4 gou1 zuk1

Cantonese word readings for 債臺高築. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

phrase

(idiomatic) be up to one's eyeballs in debt; racked with debt

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

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