DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

夫子自道

Mandarin · pinyin Fū zǐ zì dào

appearing to be praising others while actually praising yourself
one's criticism of others exposes one's own faults

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Characters in this entry

夫: fū · man, male adult, husband; those
子: zǐ · offspring, child; fruit, seed of; first earthly branch
自: zì · self, private, personal; from; Kangxi radical 132
道: dào · path, road, street; method, way

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

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Mandarin tones

1–3–4–4 · Fu1 zi3 zi4 dao4

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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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