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忘恩負義

简忘恩负义 · 繁忘恩負義

Mandarin · pinyin wàng ēn fù yì

to forget favors and violate justice (idiom); ingratitude to a friend
to kick a benefactor in the teeth

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Characters in this entry

忘: wàng · forget; neglect; miss, omit
恩: ēn · kindness, mercy, charity
負: Look up this written character
義: Look up this written character
负: fù · load, burden; carry, bear
义: yì · right conduct, righteousness

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

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Mandarin tones

4–1–4–4 · wang4 en1 fu4 yi4

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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.

忘恩負義 · find source passages ↗ · 忘恩负义 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

mong4 jan1 fu6 ji6

Cantonese word readings for 忘恩負義. 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

(idiomatic) to be devoid of gratefulness; to forget someone’s kindness and turn one’s back on him; to bite the hand that feeds one

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

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