獨斷專行

简 独断专行 · 繁 獨斷專行
Mandarin · pinyin dú duàn zhuān xíng

Meanings

  1. to decide and act alone (idiom); to take arbitrary action
  2. a law unto oneself
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Characters in this entry

獨
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斷
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專
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行
xíng · go; walk; move, travel; circulate; Kangxi radical 144
独
dú · alone, single, solitary, only
断
duàn · sever, cut off; interrupt
专
zhuān · monopolize, take sole possession
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

2–4–1–2 · du2 duan4 zhuan1 xing2

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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.

獨斷專行 · find source passages ↗ · 独断专行 · find source passages ↗

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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 act arbitrarily

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

獨斷專行 · du2 duan4 zhuan1 xing2
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 72,700
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record獨斷專行 独断专行 [du2 duan4 zhuan1 xing2] /to decide and act alone (idiom); to take arbitrary action/a law unto oneself/