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兵敗如山倒

简兵败如山倒 · 繁兵敗如山倒

Mandarin · pinyin bīng bài rú shān dǎo

troops in defeat like a landslide (idiom); a beaten army in total collapse

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Characters in this entry

兵: bīng · soldier, troops
敗: Look up this written character
如: rú · if, supposing; as if; like, as
山: shān · mountain, hill, peak
倒: dào · fall over; lie down; take turns
败: bài · be defeated, decline, fail

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

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Mandarin tones

1–4–2–1–3 · bing1 bai4 ru2 shan1 dao3

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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.

兵敗如山倒 · find source passages ↗ · 兵败如山倒 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

bing1 baai6 jyu4 saan1 dou2

Cantonese word readings for 兵敗如山倒. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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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.

phrase

(simile) to be soundly defeated; to suffer a crushing defeat

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

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