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半路出家

Mandarin · pinyin bàn lù chū jiā

(lit.) to enter monastic life at a mature age (idiom)
(fig.) to change one's career; to take up a new line of work or specialization; to enter a profession from a different background

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Characters in this entry

半: bàn · half
路: lù · road, path, street; journey
出: chū · go out, send out; stand; produce
家: jiā · house, home, residence; family

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

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Mandarin tones

4–4–1–1 · ban4 lu4 chu1 jia1

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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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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

bun3 lou6 ceot1 gaa1

Cantonese word readings for 半路出家. 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

(idiomatic) to switch to a job one was not trained for; to change professions completely

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

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