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手忙腳亂

简手忙脚乱 · 繁手忙腳亂

Mandarin · pinyin shǒu máng jiǎo luàn

(idiom) to act with confusion or in a disorderly manner; flustered

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Characters in this entry

手: shǒu · hand
忙: máng · busy, pressed for time; hustling
腳: jiǎo · foot; base, leg, foundation
亂: Look up this written character
脚: jiǎo · leg, foot; base, leg, foundation
乱: luàn · confusion, state of chaos, revolt

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

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Mandarin tones

3–2–3–4 · shou3 mang2 jiao3 luan4

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

手忙腳亂 · find source passages ↗ · 手忙脚乱 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

sau2 mong4 goek3 lyun6

Cantonese word readings for 手忙腳亂. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

phrase

(idiomatic) to act in a disorderly and flustered manner

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

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