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窮途末路

简穷途末路 · 繁窮途末路

Mandarin · pinyin qióng tú mò lù

lit. the path exhausted, the end of the road (idiom); an impasse
in a plight with no way out
things have reached a dead end

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Characters in this entry

窮: Look up this written character
途: tú · way, road, path, journey; course
末: mò · final, last, end; insignificant
路: lù · road, path, street; journey
穷: qióng · poor, destitute, impoverished

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

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Mandarin tones

2–2–4–4 · qiong2 tu2 mo4 lu4

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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.

窮途末路 · find source passages ↗ · 穷途末路 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

kung4 tou4 mut6 lou6

Cantonese word readings for 窮途末路. 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) to be very poor or desperate; to be back to the wall

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

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