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自行其是

Mandarin · pinyin zì xíng qí shì

to act as one thinks fit
to have one's own way

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Characters in this entry

自: zì · self, private, personal; from; Kangxi radical 132
行: xíng · go; walk; move, travel; circulate; Kangxi radical 144
其: qí · his, her, its, their; that
是: shì · indeed, yes, right; to be; demonstrative pronoun, this, that

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

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Mandarin tones

4–2–2–4 · zi4 xing2 qi2 shi4

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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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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(chiefly derogatory) to do what one thinks is right without considering the opinions of others; to do one's own thing

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

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