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自討苦吃

简自讨苦吃 · 繁自討苦吃

Mandarin · pinyin zì tǎo kǔ chī

(idiom) to ask for trouble; to make a rod for one's own back

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Characters in this entry

自: zì · self, private, personal; from; Kangxi radical 132
討: Look up this written character
苦: kǔ · bitter; hardship, suffering
吃: chī · eat; drink; suffer, endure, bear
讨: tǎo · to discuss; ask for, beg; demand; dun; marry

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

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Mandarin tones

4–3–3–1 · zi4 tao3 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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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

phrase

(idiomatic) to ask for trouble; to make a rod for one's own back

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

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