妄自尊大

Mandarin · pinyin wàng zì zūn dà

Meanings

  1. ridiculous self-importance (idiom); arrogance
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Characters in this entry

妄
wàng · absurd, foolish, reckless; false
自
zì · self, private, personal; from; Kangxi radical 132
尊
zūn · respect, revere, venerate; honor
大
dà · big, great, vast, large, high
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–4–1–4 · wang4 zi4 zun1 da4

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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.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

mong5 zi6 zyun1 daai6

Cantonese word readings for 妄自尊大. 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

  1. (idiomatic) to be arrogant; to be self-important; to suffer from megalomania

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

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