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自欺欺人

Mandarin · pinyin zì qī qī rén

to deceive others and to deceive oneself
to believe one's own lies

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Characters in this entry

自: zì · self, private, personal; from; Kangxi radical 132
欺: qī · cheat, double-cross, deceive
人: rén · man; people; mankind; someone else

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

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Mandarin tones

4–1–1–2 · zi4 qi1 qi1 ren2

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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.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

zi6 hei1 hei1 jan4

Cantonese word readings for 自欺欺人. 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 deceive oneself as well as others; to fool oneself alongside others

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

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