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兔死狗烹

Mandarin · pinyin tù sǐ gǒu pēng

(lit.) when the rabbit is dead, the hunting dogs are cooked (idiom)
(fig.) to discard or eliminate someone once they are no longer useful

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Characters in this entry

兔: tù · rabbit, hare
死: sǐ · die; dead; death
狗: gǒu · dog, Canis familiaris
烹: pēng · boil, cook; quick fry, stir fry

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–3–3–1 · tu4 si3 gou3 peng1

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

tou3 sei2 gau2 paang1

Pleco · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Word reading; meanings not aligned.

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(idiomatic) to get rid of somebody once they have served their purpose

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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