DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

畫地為獄

简画地为狱 · 繁畫地為獄

Mandarin · pinyin huà dì wéi yù

see 畫地為牢 huà dì wéi láo

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

畫: huà · delineate, painting, picture, drawing; draw
地: de · dì · earth; soil, ground; region
為: Look up this written character
獄: Look up this written character
画: huà · a painting, picture, drawing; to draw
为: wèi · do, handle, govern, act; be
狱: yù · prison, jail; case; lawsuit

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

4–4–2–4 · hua4 di4 wei2 yu4

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

5character links1source reference

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

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.

畫地為獄 · find source passages ↗ · 画地为狱 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗