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三姑六婆

Mandarin · pinyin sān gū liù pó

women with disreputable or illegal professions (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

三: sān · three
姑: gū · father's sister; husband's mother
六: liù · number six
婆: pó · old woman; grandmother

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

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Mandarin tones

1–1–4–2 · san1 gu1 liu4 po2

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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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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

saam1 gu1 luk6 po4

Cantonese word readings for 三姑六婆. 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) women with disreputable or illegal professions
(figurative) (female) gossipmongers

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

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