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各打五十大板

Mandarin · pinyin gè dǎ wǔ shí dà bǎn

lit. to give each one a flogging of fifty strokes (idiom)
fig. to punish the guilty and the innocent alike
to put the blame on both parties

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Characters in this entry

各: gè · each, individually, every, all
打: dǎ · strike, hit, beat; fight; attack
五: wǔ · five; surname
十: shí · ten, tenth; complete; perfect
大: dà · big, great, vast, large, high
板: bǎn · plank, board; iron or tin plate

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

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Mandarin tones

4–3–3–2–4–3 · ge4 da3 wu3 shi2 da4 ban3

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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

gok3 daa2 ng5 sap6 daai6 baan2

Cantonese word readings for 各打五十大板. 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

(figurative) to blame, criticize or punish both sides indiscriminately without determining who is right and who is wrong

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

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