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咎由自取

Mandarin · pinyin jiù yóu zì qǔ

(idiom) to have only oneself to blame; to bring trouble through one's own actions

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Characters in this entry

咎: jiù · fault, defect; error, mistake
由: yóu · cause, reason; from
自: zì · self, private, personal; from; Kangxi radical 132
取: qǔ · take, receive, obtain; select

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

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Mandarin tones

4–2–4–3 · jiu4 you2 zi4 qu3

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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

gau3 jau4 zi6 ceoi2

Cantonese word readings for 咎由自取. 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) have only oneself to blame

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

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