吐絲自縛

简 吐丝自缚 · 繁 吐絲自縛
Mandarin · pinyin tǔ sī zì fù

Meanings

  1. to spin a cocoon around oneself (idiom); enmeshed in a trap of one's own devising
  2. hoist with his own petard
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Characters in this entry

吐
tǔ · vomit, spew out, cough up
絲
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自
zì · self, private, personal; from; Kangxi radical 132
縛
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丝
sī · silk; fine thread; wire; strings
缚
fù · to tie
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

3–1–4–4 · tu3 si1 zi4 fu4

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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.

吐絲自縛 · find source passages ↗ · 吐丝自缚 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

tou3 si1 zi6 bok3

Cantonese word readings for 吐絲自縛. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

吐絲自縛 · tu3 si1 zi4 fu4
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 20,381
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record吐絲自縛 吐丝自缚 [tu3 si1 zi4 fu4] /to spin a cocoon around oneself (idiom); enmeshed in a trap of one's own devising/hoist with his own petard/