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吃不了兜著走

简吃不了兜着走 · 繁吃不了兜著走

Mandarin · pinyin chī bu liǎo dōu zhe zǒu

lit. if you can't eat it all, you'll have to take it home (idiom)
fig. you'll have to take the consequences

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Characters in this entry

吃: chī · eat; drink; suffer, endure, bear
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
了: le · to finish; particle of completed action
兜: dōu · pouch
著: zhù · zhe · manifest; (Cant.) to wear
走: zǒu · walk, go on foot; run; leave; Kangxi radical 156
着: zhe · make move, take action

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

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Mandarin tones

1–5–3–1–5–3 · chi1 bu5 liao3 dou1 zhe5 zou3

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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.

吃不了兜著走 · find source passages ↗ · 吃不了兜着走 · find source passages ↗

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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

(figurative, colloquial) to find oneself in serious trouble; to bear all the consequences

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

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