DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

畫地為牢

简画地为牢 · 繁畫地為牢

Mandarin · pinyin huà dì wéi láo

lit. to be confined within a circle drawn on the ground (idiom)
fig. to confine oneself to a restricted range of activities

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Characters in this entry

畫: huà · delineate, painting, picture, drawing; draw
地: de · dì · earth; soil, ground; region
為: Look up this written character
牢: láo · prison; stable, pen; secure
画: huà · a painting, picture, drawing; to draw
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

4–4–2–2 · hua4 di4 wei2 lao2

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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.

畫地為牢 · find source passages ↗ · 画地为牢 · find source passages ↗

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