自高自大

Mandarin · pinyin zì gāo zì dà

Meanings

  1. to think of oneself as terrific (idiom); arrogant
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Characters in this entry

自
zì · self, private, personal; from; Kangxi radical 132
高
gāo · high, tall; lofty, elevated; Kangxi radical 189
大
dà · big, great, vast, large, high
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–1–4–4 · zi4 gao1 zi4 da4

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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 gou1 zi6 daai6

Cantonese word readings for 自高自大. 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

  1. (idiomatic) self-important; conceited; arrogant; self-aggrandizing

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

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