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 — it names 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.