置之死地而後生

简 置之死地而后生 · 繁 置之死地而後生
Mandarin · pinyin zhì zhī sǐ dì ér hòu shēng

Meanings

  1. (idiom based on Sunzi's "The Art of War" 孫子兵法 Sūn zǐ Bīng fǎ) to deploy one's troops in such a way that there is no possibility of retreat, so that they will fight for their lives and win the battle; to fight desperately when confronted with mortal danger; to find a way to emerge from a dire situation
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Characters in this entry

置
zhì · place, lay out; set aside
之
zhī · marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to
死
sǐ · die; dead; death
地
de · dì · earth; soil, ground; region
而
ér · and; and then; and yet; but; Kangxi radical 126
後
hòu · behind, rear, after; descendents
生
shēng · life, living, lifetime; birth
后
hòu · queen, empress, sovereign; (simp. for 後) behind, rear, after
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–1–3–4–2–4–1 · zhi4 zhi1 si3 di4 er2 hou4 sheng1

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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.

置之死地而後生 · find source passages ↗ · 置之死地而后生 · find source passages ↗

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

zi3 zi1 sei2 dei6 ji4 hau6 sang1

Cantonese word readings for 置之死地而後生. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

置之死地而後生 · zhi4 zhi1 si3 di4 er2 hou4 sheng1
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 87,585
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record置之死地而後生 置之死地而后生 [zhi4 zhi1 si3 di4 er2 hou4 sheng1] /(idiom based on Sunzi's "The Art of War" 孫子兵法|孙子兵法[Sun1 zi3 Bing1 fa3]) to deploy one's troops in such a way that there is no possibility of retreat, so that they will fight for their lives and win the battle; to fight desperately when confronted with mortal danger; to find a way to emerge from a dire situation/