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飲鴆止渴

简饮鸩止渴 · 繁飲鴆止渴

Mandarin · pinyin yǐn zhèn zhǐ kě

lit. drinking poison in the hope of quenching one's thirst (idiom)
fig. a supposed remedy that only makes matters worse

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Characters in this entry

飲: Look up this written character
鴆: Look up this written character
止: zhǐ · stop, halt, desist; detain
渴: kě · thirsty, parched; yearn, pine
饮: yǐn · drink; swallow; kind of drink
鸩: zhèn · a bird resembling the secretary falcon

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

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Mandarin tones

3–4–3–3 · yin3 zhen4 zhi3 ke3

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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.

飲鴆止渴 · find source passages ↗ · 饮鸩止渴 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

jam2 zam6 zi2 hot3

Cantonese word readings for 飲鴆止渴. 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 do something harmful in order to seek any relief

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

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