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做賊心虛

简做贼心虚 · 繁做賊心虛

Mandarin · pinyin zuò zéi xīn xū

to feel guilty as a thief (idiom); to have sth on one's conscience

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Characters in this entry

做: zuò · work, make; act
賊: Look up this written character
心: xīn · heart; mind, intelligence; soul; 5th lunar mansion, determinative star α Scorpii (Antares)
虛: Look up this written character
贼: zéi · thief, traitor; kill
虚: xū · false

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

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Mandarin tones

4–2–1–1 · zuo4 zei2 xin1 xu1

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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.

做賊心虛 · find source passages ↗ · 做贼心虚 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

zou6 caak6 sam1 heoi1

Cantonese word readings for 做賊心虛. 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 have a guilty conscience

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

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