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卑躬屈膝

Mandarin · pinyin bēi gōng qū xī

to bow and bend the knee (idiom); fawning
bending and scraping to curry favor

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Characters in this entry

卑: bēi · humble, low, inferior; despise
躬: gōng · body; personally, in person
屈: qū · bend, flex; bent, crooked; crouch
膝: xī · knee

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

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Mandarin tones

1–1–1–1 · bei1 gong1 qu1 xi1

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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 · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

bei1 gung1 wat1 sat1

Cantonese word readings for 卑躬屈膝. 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 bow and scrape; to cringe; to act servilely or obsequiously

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

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