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博士買驢

简博士买驴 · 繁博士買驢

Mandarin · pinyin bó shì mǎi lǘ

(idiom) to act like the scholar who wrote at length about buying a donkey without even mentioning the word "donkey"; to write at length without ever getting to the point

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Characters in this entry

博: bó · gamble, play games; wide, broad
士: shì · scholar, gentleman; soldier
買: Look up this written character
驢: Look up this written character
买: mǎi · buy, purchase; bribe, persuade
驴: lǘ · donkey, ass

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

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Mandarin tones

2–4–3–2 · bo2 shi4 mai3 lu:2

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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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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

phrase

(of words) long-winded, vague and never getting to the point

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

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