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好馬不吃回頭草

简好马不吃回头草 · 繁好馬不吃回頭草

Mandarin · pinyin hǎo mǎ bù chī huí tóu cǎo

lit. a good horse doesn't turn around and graze the same patch again (idiom)
fig. once you've moved on, don't go back again (romantic relationship, job etc)
leave the past behind

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Characters in this entry

好: hǎo · good, excellent, fine; well
馬: Look up this written character
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
吃: chī · eat; drink; suffer, endure, bear
回: huí · return, turn around; a time
頭: tóu · head; top; chief, first; boss
草: cǎo · grass, straw, thatch, herbs
马: mǎ · horse; surname; Kangxi radical 187
头: tóu · head; top; chief, first; boss

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

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Mandarin tones

3–3–4–1–2–2–3 · hao3 ma3 bu4 chi1 hui2 tou2 cao3

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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.

好馬不吃回頭草 · find source passages ↗ · 好马不吃回头草 · find source passages ↗

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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.

proverb

a smart person does not dwell on past actions; a true man never backtracks

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

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