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因噎廢食

简因噎废食 · 繁因噎廢食

Mandarin · pinyin yīn yē fèi shí

lit. not eating for fear of choking (idiom); fig. to cut off one's nose to spite one's face
to avoid sth essential because of a slight risk

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Characters in this entry

因: yīn · cause, reason; by; because (of)
噎: yē · choke; hiccup
廢: Look up this written character
食: shí · eat; meal; food; Kangxi radical 184
废: fèi · abrogate, terminate, discard

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

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Mandarin tones

1–1–4–2 · yin1 ye1 fei4 shi2

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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.

因噎廢食 · find source passages ↗ · 因噎废食 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

jan1 jit3 fai3 sik6

Cantonese word readings for 因噎廢食. 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) to avoid something essential because of a slight risk of making a mistake

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

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