DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

吃錯藥

简吃错药 · 繁吃錯藥

Mandarin · pinyin chī cuò yào

(lit.) to have taken the wrong medicine
(fig.) (of one's behavior etc) different than usual
abnormal

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Characters in this entry

吃: chī · eat; drink; suffer, endure, bear
錯: cuò · error, blunder, mistake, wrong
藥: Look up this written character
错: cuò · error, blunder, mistake; wrong
药: yào · leaf of Dahurian angelica plant; medicine

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

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Mandarin tones

1–4–4 · chi1 cuo4 yao4

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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.

吃錯藥 · find source passages ↗ · 吃错药 · 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.

verb

(colloquial) to be out of one's mind; crazy; lunatic

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

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