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挑撥離間

简 挑拨离间 · 繁 挑撥離間
Mandarin · pinyin tiǎo bō lí jiàn

Meanings

  1. to sow dissension (idiom); to drive a wedge between
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Characters in this entry

挑
tiāo · a load carried on the shoulders; to carry
撥
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離
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間
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拨
bō · move; dispel; distribute
离
lí · rare beast; strange; elegant
间
jiān · midpoint, space; place, locality
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Entries containing 挑撥離間 ↗Words written with 挑 ↗Words written with 撥 ↗Words written with 離 ↗Words written with 間 ↗Words written with 拨 ↗Words written with 离 ↗Words written with 间 ↗

Mandarin tones

3–1–2–4 · tiao3 bo1 li2 jian4

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Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

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Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.
Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

tiu1 but6 lei4 gaan3

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

  1. (idiomatic) to incite one person against another; to drive a wedge between; to foment disunity and dissension; to sow discord

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack