寧左勿右

简 宁左勿右 · 繁 寧左勿右
Mandarin · pinyin nìng zuǒ wù yòu

Meanings

  1. (of one's political views) to prefer left rather than right (idiom during the Cultural Revolution)
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Characters in this entry

寧
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左
zuǒ · left; east; unorthodox, improper
勿
wù · must not, do not; without, never
右
yòu · right; west; right-wing
宁
níng · calm, peaceful, serene; healthy
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–3–4–4 · ning4 zuo3 wu4 you4

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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.

寧左勿右 · find source passages ↗ · 宁左勿右 · find source passages ↗

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寧左勿右 · ning4 zuo3 wu4 you4
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 33,533
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record寧左勿右 宁左勿右 [ning4 zuo3 wu4 you4] /(of one's political views) to prefer left rather than right (idiom during the Cultural Revolution)/