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引以為戒

简引以为戒 · 繁引以為戒

Mandarin · pinyin yǐn yǐ wéi jiè

to take sth as a warning (idiom)
to draw a lesson from a case where things turned out badly

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Characters in this entry

引: yǐn · to pull, draw out, attract; to stretch
以: yǐ · by means of; thereby, therefore; consider as; in order to
為: Look up this written character
戒: jiè · warn, caution, admonish
为: wèi · do, handle, govern, act; be

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

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Mandarin tones

3–3–2–4 · yin3 yi3 wei2 jie4

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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.

引以為戒 · find source passages ↗ · 引以为戒 · 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.

phrase

(idiomatic) to take as a warning; to draw lessons from

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

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