DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

躡手躡腳

简蹑手蹑脚 · 繁躡手躡腳

Mandarin · pinyin niè shǒu niè jiǎo

to walk quietly on tiptoe (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

躡: Look up this written character
手: shǒu · hand
腳: jiǎo · foot; base, leg, foundation
蹑: niè · tread, step on; follow, track
脚: jiǎo · leg, foot; base, leg, foundation

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

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Mandarin tones

4–3–4–3 · nie4 shou3 nie4 jiao3

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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.

躡手躡腳 · find source passages ↗ · 蹑手蹑脚 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

sip6 sau2 sip6 goek3

Cantonese word readings for 躡手躡腳. 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.

phrase

(idiomatic) to walk on tiptoe; to creep; to walk gingerly
(idiomatic) to do things stealthily

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

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