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吃空餉

简吃空饷 · 繁吃空餉

Mandarin · pinyin chī kòng xiǎng

to embezzle by adding to the payroll employees existing in name only

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Characters in this entry

吃: chī · eat; drink; suffer, endure, bear
空: kōng · empty, hollow, bare, deserted
餉: Look up this written character
饷: xiǎng · rations and pay for soldiers

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

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Mandarin tones

1–4–3 · chi1 kong4 xiang3

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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.

吃空餉 · find source passages ↗ · 吃空饷 · find source passages ↗

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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.

verb

to line one's pockets with the salaries allotted to soldiers existing only in name on the payroll (of army officers); to embezzle by misrepresenting the payroll

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

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