悪事千里を走る

Japanese

Kanji in this term
悪	事	千	里	走
あく Grade: 3	じ Grade: 3	せん Grade: 1	り Grade: 2	はし Grade: 2
on'yomi				kun'yomi

Alternative spelling
惡事千里を走る (kyūjitai)

Alternative forms

• 悪(あく)事(じ)千(せん)里(り)を行(い)く (akuji senri o iku)

Etymology

Ostensibly an alteration of 悪(あく)事(じ)千(せん)里(り)を行(い)く (akuji senri o iku, “bad deeds go a thousand miles”), with 走(はし)る (hashiru, “run”) instead of 行(い)く (iku, “go”). The original source is Beimeng Suoyan (北夢瑣言), book 6:

所謂好事不出門，惡事行千里，士君子得不戒之乎？ [MSC, trad.]

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所谓好事不出门，恶事行千里，士君子得不戒之乎？ [MSC, simp.]

From: Beimeng Suoyan

Suǒwèi hǎoshì bù chūmén, èshì xíng qiānlǐ, shì jūnzǐ dé bù jiè zhī hū? [Pinyin]

Good deeds do not go far, but bad deeds go a thousand miles; should not the man of virtue be ever vigilant?

Proverb

悪(あく)事(じ)千(せん)里(り)を走(はし)る • (akuji senri o hashiru) 

1. bad news travels fast

Derived terms

• 悪(あく)事(じ)千(せん)里(り) (akuji senri)

References

• “悪事千里を走る”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎^[1] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2026