我行我素

Mandarin · pinyin wǒ xíng wǒ sù

Meanings

  1. to continue in one's own way (idiom)
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Characters in this entry

我
wǒ · our, us, i, me, my, we
行
xíng · go; walk; move, travel; circulate; Kangxi radical 144
素
sù · white (silk); plain; vegetarian; formerly; normally
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

3–2–3–4 · wo3 xing2 wo3 su4

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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

ngo5 haang4 ngo5 sou3

Cantonese word readings for 我行我素. 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 persist in one's old ways; to continue in one's own way no matter what others say

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

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