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公報私仇

简公报私仇 · 繁公報私仇

Mandarin · pinyin gōng bào sī chóu

to use public office to avenge private wrongs

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Characters in this entry

公: gōng · fair, equitable; public; duke
報: Look up this written character
私: sī · private, personal; secret
仇: chóu · enemy, hate, hatred, enmity
报: bào · report, tell, announce

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

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Mandarin tones

1–4–1–2 · gong1 bao4 si1 chou2

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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.

公報私仇 · find source passages ↗ · 公报私仇 · find source passages ↗

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

gung1 bou3 si1 sau4

Cantonese word readings for 公報私仇. 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 use one's official position to avenge a personal grudge

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

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