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后车之鉴

hòu chē zhī jiàndictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
lit. warning to the following cart (idiom) / don't follow the track of an overturned cart / fig. draw lesson from the failure of one's predecessor / learn from past mistake / once bitten twice shy
Sources & editorial notes

Reference definitions: CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source release 2026-10-27T01:55:52Z. Imported 2026-10-27. Definition wording and meaning order are retained. Recognized pronunciation references are displayed with tone marks; the original source record is available below.

Source record: cd-f94a3ed39a6146dd. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

後車之鑒 后车之鉴 [hou4 che1 zhi1 jian4] /lit. warning to the following cart (idiom); don't follow the track of an overturned cart/fig. draw lesson from the failure of one's predecessor/learn from past mistake/once bitten twice shy/

Reference definitions and teaching material have separate provenance.

Reference information

The definitions above are from CC-CEDICT. Examples and usage notes are available on selected entries.

Character information

View the individual characters. Their meanings do not necessarily explain the meaning of the whole word.

Other forms in these source records: 後車之鑒

  • 后
    hòu

    empress / queen / (archaic) monarch / ruler / back / behind / rear / afterwards / after / later / post-

    Hòu

    surname Hou

  • 车
    chē

    car / vehicle / CL:輛|辆[liàng] / machine / to shape with a lathe / Kangxi radical 159

    jū

    war chariot (archaic) / rook (in Chinese chess) / rook (in chess)

    Chē

    surname Che

  • 之
    zhī

    (possessive particle, literary equivalent of 的[de]) / him / her / it

  • 鉴
    jiàn

    bronze mirror (used in ancient times) / to reflect / to mirror / sth that serves as a warning or a lesson / to examine / to scrutinize

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.