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馬腳

简马脚 · 繁馬腳

Mandarin · pinyin mǎ jiǎo

sth one wishes to conceal
the cat (as in "let the cat out of the bag")

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Characters in this entry

馬: Look up this written character
腳: jiǎo · foot; base, leg, foundation
马: mǎ · horse; surname; Kangxi radical 187
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

3–3 · ma3 jiao3

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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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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

noun

horse's feet
(figurative) cloven foot; something that gives the game away; mistake or gap in a speech or theory; flaw

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

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