自找苦吃

Mandarin · pinyin zì zhǎo kǔ chī

Meanings

  1. to bring trouble on oneself
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Characters in this entry

自
zì · self, private, personal; from; Kangxi radical 132
找
zhǎo · search, seek, look for; find
苦
kǔ · bitter; hardship, suffering
吃
chī · eat; drink; suffer, endure, bear
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–3–3–1 · zi4 zhao3 ku3 chi1

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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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