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偷閒

简偷闲 · 繁偷閒

Mandarin · pinyin tōu xián

to snatch a moment of leisure
to take a break from work

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Characters in this entry

偷: tōu · to steal, burglar, thief
閒: Look up this written character
闲: xián · fence, guard; defend; idle time

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

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Mandarin tones

1–2 · tou1 xian2

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2character links1same-tone record

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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.

偷閒 · find source passages ↗ · 偷闲 · find source passages ↗

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

tau1 haan4

Cantonese word readings for 偷閒. 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

to snatch a break; to find time (to do something)
to be lazy; to goof off

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

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