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困獸猶鬥

简困兽犹斗 · 繁困獸猶鬥

Mandarin · pinyin kùn shòu yóu dòu

a cornered beast will still fight (idiom)
to fight like an animal at bay

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Characters in this entry

困: kùn · to surround, besiege; to be surrounded; difficult; hexagram ䷮
獸: Look up this written character
猶: Look up this written character
鬥: Look up this written character
兽: shòu · beast, animal; bestial
犹: yóu · like, similar to, just like, as
斗: dòu · dǒu · a dipper; unit of volume (ten 升 or litres); Kangxi radical 68; 8th lunar mansion, determinative star φ Sagittarii

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

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Mandarin tones

4–4–2–4 · kun4 shou4 you2 dou4

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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.

困獸猶鬥 · find source passages ↗ · 困兽犹斗 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

kwan3 sau3 jau4 dau3

Cantonese word readings for 困獸猶鬥. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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