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棄暗投明

简弃暗投明 · 繁棄暗投明

Mandarin · pinyin qì àn tóu míng

to renounce the dark and seek the light
to give up one's wrong way of life and turn to a better one

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Characters in this entry

棄: Look up this written character
暗: àn · dark; obscure; in secret, covert
投: tóu · throw, cast, fling, pitch; jump
明: míng · bright, light, brilliant; clear
弃: qì · reject, abandon, discard

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

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Mandarin tones

4–4–2–2 · qi4 an4 tou2 ming2

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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.

棄暗投明 · find source passages ↗ · 弃暗投明 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

hei3 am3 tau4 ming4

Cantonese word readings for 棄暗投明. 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 forsake darkness and come to the light; to forsake darkness for light; to turn over a new leaf

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

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