得道多助,失道寡助

Mandarin · pinyin dé dào duō zhù , shī dào guǎ zhù

Meanings

  1. A just cause attracts much support, an unjust one finds little (idiom, from Mencius)
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Characters in this entry

得
dé · obtain, get, gain, acquire
道
dào · path, road, street; method, way
多
duō · much, many; more than, over
助
zhù · help, aid, assist
失
shī · lose; make mistake, neglect
寡
guǎ · widowed; alone, friendless
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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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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得道多助,失道寡助 · de2 dao4 duo1 zhu4 , shi1 dao4 gua3 zhu4
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 40,323
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record得道多助,失道寡助 得道多助,失道寡助 [de2 dao4 duo1 zhu4 , shi1 dao4 gua3 zhu4] /A just cause attracts much support, an unjust one finds little (idiom, from Mencius)/