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光桿司令

简光杆司令 · 繁光桿司令

Mandarin · pinyin guāng gǎn sī lìng

commander without any soldiers; (fig.) leader without a team; solo entrepreneur

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Characters in this entry

光: guāng · light, brilliant, shine; only
桿: Look up this written character
司: sī · take charge of, control, manage; officer
令: lìng · command, order; 'commandant', magistrate; allow, cause
杆: gān · pole; shaft of spear

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

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Mandarin tones

1–3–1–4 · guang1 gan3 si1 ling4

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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.

光桿司令 · find source passages ↗ · 光杆司令 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

noun

commander without any soldiers
(figurative) leader without a team

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

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