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糟蹋

Mandarin · pinyin zāo tà

to waste; to spoil
to ruin; to wreck
to insult; to humiliate
to defile (a woman); to rape
also pr. zāota

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Characters in this entry

糟: zāo · sediment, dregs; pickle
蹋: tà · step on, tread on; stumble, slip

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

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Mandarin tones

1–4 · zao1 ta4

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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.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 4 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

zou1 taap3

Cantonese word readings for 糟蹋. 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.

verb

to waste; to ruin
to damage; to trample on; to ravage
to insult; to abuse; to humiliate
to defile (a woman); to rape

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

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