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作威作福

Mandarin · pinyin zuò wēi zuò fú

tyrannical abuse (idiom); riding roughshod over people

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Characters in this entry

作: zuò · make; work; compose, write; act, perform
威: wēi · pomp, power; powerful; dominate
福: fú · happiness, good fortune, blessing

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Mandarin tones

4–1–4–2 · zuo4 wei1 zuo4 fu2

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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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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

zok3 wai1 zok3 fuk1

Cantonese word readings for 作威作福. 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 openly abuse power; to tyrannize

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

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