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吃裡扒外

简吃里扒外 · 繁吃裡扒外

Mandarin · pinyin chī lǐ pá wài

(idiom) to work against the interests of sb one derives support from; to double-cross one's employer; to bite the hand that feeds

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Characters in this entry

吃: chī · eat; drink; suffer, endure, bear
裡: Look up this written character
扒: bā · scratch; dig up; crawl; crouch
外: wài · out, outside, external; foreign
里: lǐ · unit of distance; village; lane; Kangxi radical 166

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

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Mandarin tones

1–3–2–4 · chi1 li3 pa2 wai4

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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.

吃裡扒外 · find source passages ↗ · 吃里扒外 · 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.

phrase

(idiomatic) to live off someone while helping others; to repay a kindness by stabbing someone in the back

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

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