误入歧途
wù rù qí túTo stray onto the wrong road , through error, temptation, or simple inattention. The idiom for how things go wrong before anyone has decided they should.
Meaning · 含义 hányì
误入歧途 reads as a four-beat narrative: 误 (by mistake, wrongly) + 入 (to enter) + 歧途 (a diverging road, a fork leading astray). Together: to enter the wrong branch of the road by mistake. The structure is diagnostic, naming what happened without immediately assigning blame. The 误 (error, not 故意 deliberate) is important: this is a wrong turn, not a deliberate betrayal.
歧途 is the key compound. 歧 (qí) means a fork in the road, a divergence, something that branches off from the main path, and by extension anything deviant or heterodox. 途 is a road underway (as in 迷途). 歧途 together is a road that leads you away from where you should be going: not simply a wrong road, but one that diverges from the right one at a specific, identifiable point.
The idiom sits at the beginning of a moral or practical story, not the end. It names the moment of straying, not the recovery. Its natural partner is 迷途知返 (mí tú zhī fǎn, to realise you are lost and turn back), which picks up where 误入歧途 leaves off. Together the two idioms describe the full arc: the wrong turn, and the return.
Usage · 用法 yòngfǎ
The most common use , describing someone who has ended up in a bad situation through a series of small wrong choices rather than a single dramatic decision: 他年轻时误入歧途，交了一些不好的朋友 (tā niánqīng shí wù rù qí tú, jiāo le yīxiē bù hǎo de péngyou) , "When he was young he strayed onto the wrong road and fell in with bad company." The phrasing implies the outcome was not inevitable , it happened through misdirection, not character.
Extended to intellectual or professional contexts: 这个研究方向已经误入歧途了 (zhège yánjiū fāngxiàng yǐjīng wù rù qí tú le) , "This research direction has already strayed onto the wrong road." Used in academic, policy, and business writing to signal that a line of reasoning or strategy has diverged from where it should be heading , often as a prelude to proposing correction.
Said to someone who is visibly heading in a bad direction but has not yet fully committed: 你要小心，不要误入歧途 (nǐ yào xiǎoxīn, bù yào wù rù qí tú) , "Be careful not to stray onto the wrong road." The phrasing is softer than a direct accusation; it frames the risk as an easy mistake anyone might make, not a moral failing specific to the listener.
The Paired Idiom · 对照 duìzhào
误入歧途 and 迷途知返 share the character 途 (road underway) and describe opposite moments of the same experience. 误入歧途 is the diagnosis: this is where things went wrong, and it happened through error rather than intention. 迷途知返 is the prescription and the resolution: the person has recognised the mistake and is turning back.
Used together they form a complete moral arc that Chinese writing frequently employs, naming both the failure and the recovery in the same breath: 他曾经误入歧途，但最终还是迷途知返了 (tā céng jīng wù rù qí tú, dàn zuìzhōng háishì mí tú zhī fǎn le) , "He once strayed onto the wrong road, but in the end he recognised his error and turned back." The combination is neither wholly condemnatory nor wholly redemptive; it holds both truths at once, which is characteristic of how Chinese moral language tends to work.
Character Analysis · 字解 zìjiě
The speech radical (讠) on the left; 吴 (Wú, an ancient state name, here phonetic) on the right. Originally: a wrong statement, a verbal error. Extended to: any mistake, misunderstanding, or unintentional harm. Key compounds: 误会 (wùhuì, misunderstanding), 误解 (wùjiě, to misinterpret), 延误 (yánwù, to delay, to cause a setback). The character carries a consistent sense of unintentionality , 误 is not the same as 故意 (deliberate).
One of the simplest characters in the script , two strokes suggesting something going inward or downward. To enter, to join, to go into. Highly productive as a component: 入口 (rùkǒu, entrance), 进入 (jìnrù, to enter, to get into), 收入 (shōurù, income , literally "what comes in"). In 误入歧途, the 入 marks the act of entering the wrong road , the specific moment of departure from the right path.
止 (zhǐ, to stop, a foot) on the left; 支 (zhī, a branch, to support) on the right. A road that branches off. Extended to: divergence, heterodoxy, anything that departs from the orthodox or standard. 歧视 (qíshì, discrimination , literally "divergent seeing"); 分歧 (fēnqí, a divergence, a difference of opinion). 歧 alone already contains the sense of wrongness; it is not a neutral fork but one that leads away.
The walking radical (辶); 余 as phonetic. Distinguished from 路 (lù, a road as a physical object) by its emphasis on the journey in progress. 途 is a road being travelled. Compounds: 途中 (tú zhōng, en route, midway), 前途 (qiántú, future prospects, the road ahead), 用途 (yòngtú, use, application). Shared with 迷途知返, which makes the two idioms feel like two moments on the same road.