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大義滅親

简大义灭亲 · 繁大義滅親

Mandarin · pinyin dà yì miè qīn

to place righteousness before family (idiom); ready to punish one's own family if justice demands it

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Characters in this entry

大: dà · big, great, vast, large, high
義: Look up this written character
滅: Look up this written character
親: qīn · relatives, parents; intimate
义: yì · right conduct, righteousness
灭: miè · extinguish; wipe out, exterminate
亲: qīn · relatives, parents; intimate the hazel nut or filbert tree a thorny tree

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Mandarin tones

4–4–4–1 · da4 yi4 mie4 qin1

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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.

大義滅親 · find source passages ↗ · 大义灭亲 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

daai6 ji6 mit6 can1

Cantonese word readings for 大義滅親. 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 place righteousness before family; to be ready to punish one's own family if justice demands it

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

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