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自取滅亡

简自取灭亡 · 繁自取滅亡

Mandarin · pinyin zì qǔ miè wáng

to court disaster (idiom)
to dig one's own grave

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Characters in this entry

自: zì · self, private, personal; from; Kangxi radical 132
取: qǔ · take, receive, obtain; select
滅: Look up this written character
亡: wáng · death, destroyed; lose, perish
灭: miè · extinguish; wipe out, exterminate

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

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Mandarin tones

4–3–4–2 · zi4 qu3 mie4 wang2

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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.

自取滅亡 · find source passages ↗ · 自取灭亡 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

zi6 ceoi2 mit6 mong4

Cantonese word readings for 自取滅亡. 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 court self-destruction; to dig one's own grave

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

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