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兔死狐悲

Mandarin · pinyin tù sǐ hú bēi

lit. if the rabbit dies, the fox grieves (idiom); fig. to have sympathy with a like-minded person in distress

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Characters in this entry

兔: tù · rabbit, hare
死: sǐ · die; dead; death
狐: hú · fox
悲: bēi · sorrow, grief; sorry, sad

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Mandarin tones

4–3–2–1 · tu4 si3 hu2 bei1

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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 · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

tou3 sei2 wu4 bei1

Cantonese word readings for 兔死狐悲. 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

(figurative) to have sympathy with a like-minded person in distress

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

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