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血本無歸

简血本无归 · 繁血本無歸

Mandarin · pinyin xuè běn wú guī

(idiom) to lose everything one invested; to lose one's shirt

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Characters in this entry

血: xuè · blood; Kangxi radical 143
本: běn · root, origin, source; basis
無: Look up this written character
歸: Look up this written character
无: wú · negative, no, not; Kangxi radical 71
归: guī · return; return to, revert to

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

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Mandarin tones

4–3–2–1 · xue4 ben3 wu2 gui1

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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.

血本無歸 · find source passages ↗ · 血本无归 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

hyut3 bun2 mou4 gwai1

Cantonese word readings for 血本無歸. 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 lose one's shirt; to lose all of one's savings

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

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