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有其父必有其子

Mandarin · pinyin yǒu qí fù bì yǒu qí zǐ

like father, like son (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

有: yǒu · have, own, possess; exist
其: qí · his, her, its, their; that
父: fù · father; Kangxi radical 88
必: bì · surely, most certainly; must
子: zǐ · offspring, child; fruit, seed of; first earthly branch

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

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Mandarin tones

3–2–4–4–3–2–3 · you3 qi2 fu4 bi4 you3 qi2 zi3

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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

jau5 kei4 fu6 bit1 jau5 kei4 zi2

Cantonese word readings for 有其父必有其子. 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.

proverb

like father, like child

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

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