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自尋死路

简自寻死路 · 繁自尋死路

Mandarin · pinyin zì xún sǐ lù

to follow the path to one's own doom (idiom)
to bring about one's own destruction

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Characters in this entry

自: zì · self, private, personal; from; Kangxi radical 132
尋: Look up this written character
死: sǐ · die; dead; death
路: lù · road, path, street; journey
寻: xún · seek, search, look for; ancient

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

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Mandarin tones

4–2–3–4 · zi4 xun2 si3 lu4

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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.

自尋死路 · find source passages ↗ · 自寻死路 · 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 seek one's demise; to bring about one's own destruction

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

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