DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

百足之蟲死而不僵

简百足之虫死而不僵 · 繁百足之蟲死而不僵

Mandarin · pinyin bǎi zú zhī chóng sǐ ér bù jiāng

a centipede dies but never falls down
old institutions die hard

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Characters in this entry

百: bǎi · one hundred; numerous, many
足: zú · foot; attain, satisfy, enough; Kangxi radical 156
之: zhī · marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to
蟲: chóng · worms; insects
死: sǐ · die; dead; death
而: ér · and; and then; and yet; but; Kangxi radical 126
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
僵: jiāng · stiff and motionless, stock still
虫: chóng · insects, worms; Kangxi radical 142

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

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Mandarin tones

3–2–1–2–3–2–4–1 · bai3 zu2 zhi1 chong2 si3 er2 bu4 jiang1

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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.

百足之蟲死而不僵 · find source passages ↗ · 百足之虫死而不僵 · find source passages ↗

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