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自愧不如

Mandarin · pinyin zì kuì bù rú

ashamed of being inferior (idiom)
to feel inferior to others

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Characters in this entry

自: zì · self, private, personal; from; Kangxi radical 132
愧: kuì · ashamed, conscience-stricken
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
如: rú · if, supposing; as if; like, as

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

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Mandarin tones

4–4–4–2 · zi4 kui4 bu4 ru2

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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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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 ashamed of not being as good as someone else

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

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