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畏縮不前

简畏缩不前 · 繁畏縮不前

Mandarin · pinyin wèi suō bù qián

to shrink back in fear (idiom); too cowardly to advance

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Characters in this entry

畏: wèi · fear, dread, awe, reverence
縮: Look up this written character
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
前: qián · in front, forward; preceding
缩: suō · contract, draw in, reduce

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

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Mandarin tones

4–1–4–2 · wei4 suo1 bu4 qian2

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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.

畏縮不前 · find source passages ↗ · 畏缩不前 · 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

(idiomatic) to hesitate to press forward; to recoil in fear

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

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