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做手腳

简做手脚 · 繁做手腳

Mandarin · pinyin zuò shǒu jiǎo

to manipulate dishonestly; to tamper with sth

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Characters in this entry

做: zuò · work, make; act
手: shǒu · hand
腳: jiǎo · foot; base, leg, foundation
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

4–3–3 · zuo4 shou3 jiao3

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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.

做手腳 · find source passages ↗ · 做手脚 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

zou6 sau2 goek3

Cantonese word readings for 做手腳. 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.

verb

(verb-object) to play tricks; to be up to some mischief; to use trickery

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

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