DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

偷渡

Mandarin · pinyin tōu dù

illegal immigration
to stowaway (on a ship)
to steal across the international border
to run a blockade

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Characters in this entry

偷: tōu · to steal, burglar, thief
渡: dù · cross, ferry over; ferry

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

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Mandarin tones

1–4 · tou1 du4

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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 · 4 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

tau1 dou6

Cantonese word readings for 偷渡. 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.

noun

people smuggling; illegal immigration

verb

to secretly ferry; to stowaway on a ship
(by extension) to illegally enter a country
to run a blockade

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack