







成王败寇 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “the victor becomes a king, the vanquished becomes a bandit”. Implying that success justifies one's actions, while failure leads to condemnation. Literally, “Success makes one a king, failure makes one a bandit”.

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Open the tool →成王败寇 (chéng wáng bài kòu) is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “the victor becomes a king, the vanquished becomes a bandit”.
成王败寇 is pronounced chéng wáng bài kòu in Mandarin Chinese.
Literally, 成王败寇 means “Success makes one a king, failure makes one a bandit”. It is used to mean “the victor becomes a king, the vanquished becomes a bandit”.
旧指在争夺政权斗争中,成功了的就是合法的,称帝称王;失败了的就是非法的,被称为寇贼。含有成功者权势在手,无人敢责难,失败者却有口难辩的意思。