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磨蹭

Mandarin · pinyin mó ceng

to rub lightly
to move slowly; to dawdle; to dillydally
to pester; to nag

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Characters in this entry

磨: mó · grind; polish; rub; wear out; a millstone
蹭: cèng · to shuffle, procrastinate, dilly-dally

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

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Mandarin tones

2–5 · mo2 ceng5

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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.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 4 senses

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

verb

to rub softly; to stroke gently
to move slowly; to dawdle; to dillydally
to pester; to nag
to be in a tangle; to be in a nag

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

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