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自首

Mandarin · pinyin zì shǒu

to give oneself up
to surrender (to the authorities)

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Characters in this entry

自: zì · self, private, personal; from; Kangxi radical 132
首: shǒu · head; first; leader, chief; a poem; Kangxi radical 185

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

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Mandarin tones

4–3 · zi4 shou3

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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 sau2

Cantonese word readings for 自首. 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.

verb

(law, intransitive) to turn oneself in; to give up; to surrender

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

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