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眾叛親離

简众叛亲离 · 繁眾叛親離

Mandarin · pinyin zhòng pàn qīn lí

lit. people rebelling and friends deserting (idiom)
fig. to find oneself utterly isolated

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Characters in this entry

眾: Look up this written character
叛: pàn · rebel; rebellion; rebellious
親: qīn · relatives, parents; intimate
離: Look up this written character
众: zhòng · multitude, crowd; masses, public
亲: qīn · relatives, parents; intimate the hazel nut or filbert tree a thorny tree
离: lí · rare beast; strange; elegant

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

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Mandarin tones

4–4–1–2 · zhong4 pan4 qin1 li2

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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.

眾叛親離 · find source passages ↗ · 众叛亲离 · 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

(of a person) to be isolated and forsaken by everyone

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

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