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一手遮天

Mandarin · pinyin yī shǒu zhē tiān

lit. to hide the sky with one hand
to hide the truth from the masses

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Characters in this entry

一: yī · one; a, an; alone
手: shǒu · hand
遮: zhē · cover, shield, protect
天: tiān · sky, heaven; god, celestial

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

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Mandarin tones

1–3–1–1 · yi1 shou3 zhe1 tian1

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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.

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

jat1 sau2 ze1 tin1

Cantonese word readings for 一手遮天. 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 hide the truth (from the public or masses)

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

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