DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

舞文弄墨

Mandarin · pinyin wǔ wén nòng mò

(idiom) to display one's facility with words
to show off one's literary skills
(original meaning) to pervert the law by playing with legal phraseology (墨 mò was a reference to 繩墨 shéng mò)

Characters in this entry

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

3–2–4–4 · wu3 wen2 nong4 mo4

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

mou5 man4 lung6 mak6

Cantonese word readings for 舞文弄墨. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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

(idiomatic) to show off one's literary skills; to be playful with language and words (in writing); to juggle with words