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背水一戰

简背水一战 · 繁背水一戰

Mandarin · pinyin bèi shuǐ yī zhàn

lit. fight with one's back to the river (idiom); fig. to fight to win or die

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Characters in this entry

背: bèi · back; back side; behind; betray
水: shuǐ · water, liquid, lotion, juice
一: yī · one; a, an; alone
戰: Look up this written character
战: zhàn · war, fighting, battle

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

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Mandarin tones

4–3–1–4 · bei4 shui3 yi1 zhan4

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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.

背水一戰 · find source passages ↗ · 背水一战 · 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

(idiomatic) to be forced to stand and fight; to make a desperate last stand

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

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