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罪有應得

简罪有应得 · 繁罪有應得

Mandarin · pinyin zuì yǒu yīng dé

guilty and deserves to be punished (idiom); entirely appropriate chastisement
the punishment fits the crime

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Characters in this entry

罪: zuì · crime, sin, vice; evil; hardship
有: yǒu · have, own, possess; exist
應: yīng · should, ought to, must
得: dé · obtain, get, gain, acquire
应: yīng · should, ought to, must

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

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Mandarin tones

4–3–1–2 · zui4 you3 ying1 de2

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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.

罪有應得 · find source passages ↗ · 罪有应得 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

zeoi6 jau5 jing1 dak1

Cantonese word readings for 罪有應得. 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 deserve one's punishment for one's crimes or bad behavior

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

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