DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

吃閉門羹

简吃闭门羹 · 繁吃閉門羹

Mandarin · pinyin chī bì mén gēng

to be refused entrance; to find the door closed

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

吃: chī · eat; drink; suffer, endure, bear
閉: Look up this written character
門: mén · gate, door, entrance, opening; Kangxi radical 169
羹: gēng · soup, broth
闭: bì · shut, close; obstruct, block up
门: mén · gate, door, entrance, opening

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

1–4–2–1 · chi1 bi4 men2 geng1

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.

吃閉門羹 · find source passages ↗ · 吃闭门羹 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

verb

(idiomatic, figurative) to be refused admission as an unwelcome guest; to be rejected or refused

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

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