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畫地自限

简画地自限 · 繁畫地自限

Mandarin · pinyin huà dì zì xiàn

lit. to draw a line on the ground to keep within (idiom)
fig. to impose restrictions on oneself

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Characters in this entry

畫: huà · delineate, painting, picture, drawing; draw
地: de · dì · earth; soil, ground; region
自: zì · self, private, personal; from; Kangxi radical 132
限: xiàn · boundary, limit, line
画: huà · a painting, picture, drawing; to draw

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

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Mandarin tones

4–4–4–4 · hua4 di4 zi4 xian4

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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.

畫地自限 · find source passages ↗ · 画地自限 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

waak6 dei6 zi6 haan6

Cantonese word readings for 畫地自限. 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) drawing boundaries for oneself; self-limiting

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

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