金玉其外,敗絮其中

简 金玉其外,败絮其中 · 繁 金玉其外,敗絮其中
Mandarin · pinyin jīn yù qí wài , bài xù qí zhōng

Meanings

  1. gilded exterior, shabby and ruined on the inside (idiom)
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Characters in this entry

金
jīn · gold; metals in general; money; Kangxi radical 167
玉
yù · jade, precious stone, gem
其
qí · his, her, its, their; that
外
wài · out, outside, external; foreign
敗
Look up this written character
絮
xù · waste cotton, raw silk or cotton
中
zhōng · central; center, middle; in the midst of; hit (target); attain
败
bài · be defeated, decline, fail
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Compare dictionary sources 1 Cantonese reading

gam1 juk6 kei4 ngoi6 ,baai6 seoi5 kei4 zung1

Pleco · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Word reading; meanings not aligned.

金玉其外,敗絮其中 · jin1 yu4 qi2 wai4 , bai4 xu4 qi2 zhong1
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 111,333
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record金玉其外,敗絮其中 金玉其外,败絮其中 [jin1 yu4 qi2 wai4 , bai4 xu4 qi2 zhong1] /gilded exterior, shabby and ruined on the inside (idiom)/