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自作孽

Mandarin · pinyin zì zuò niè

to bring disaster on oneself

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Characters in this entry

自: zì · self, private, personal; from; Kangxi radical 132
作: zuò · make; work; compose, write; act, perform
孽: niè · evil; son of concubine; ghost

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Mandarin tones

4–4–4 · zi4 zuo4 nie4

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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.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

zi6 zok3 jip6

Cantonese word readings for 自作孽. 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.

verb

to bear the disastrous consequences of one's own misdeeds

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

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