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捨己為人

简舍己为人 · 繁捨己為人

Mandarin · pinyin shě jǐ wèi rén

to abandon self for others (idiom, from Analects); to sacrifice one's own interest for other people
altruism

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Characters in this entry

捨: Look up this written character
己: jǐ · self, oneself; personal, private; 6th heavenly stem
為: Look up this written character
人: rén · man; people; mankind; someone else
舍: shě · shè · house, dwelling; dwell, reside
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

3–3–4–2 · she3 ji3 wei4 ren2

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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.

捨己為人 · find source passages ↗ · 舍己为人 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(idiomatic) to sacrifice one's own interests for the sake of others

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

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