貓哭老鼠

简 猫哭老鼠 · 繁 貓哭老鼠
Mandarin · pinyin māo kū lǎo shǔ

Meanings

  1. the cat weeps for the dead mouse (idiom); hypocritical pretence of condolence
  2. crocodile tears
Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

貓
māo · cat
哭
kū · weep, cry, wail
老
lǎo · old, aged; experienced; Kangxi radical 125
鼠
shǔ · rat, mouse; Kangxi radical 208
猫
māo · cat
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

1–1–3–3 · mao1 ku1 lao3 shu3

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

5character links
Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗
Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

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.

貓哭老鼠 · find source passages ↗ · 猫哭老鼠 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

貓哭老鼠 · mao1 ku1 lao3 shu3
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 103,012
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record貓哭老鼠 猫哭老鼠 [mao1 ku1 lao3 shu3] /the cat weeps for the dead mouse (idiom); hypocritical pretence of condolence/crocodile tears/