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吞雲吐霧

简吞云吐雾 · 繁吞雲吐霧

Mandarin · pinyin tūn yún tǔ wù

to swallow clouds and blow out fog (idiom)
to blow cigarette or opium smoke

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Characters in this entry

吞: tūn · swallow; absorb, annex, engulf
雲: yún · clouds; Yunnan province
吐: tǔ · vomit, spew out, cough up
霧: Look up this written character
云: yún · say, speak; clouds
雾: wù · fog, mist, vapor, fine spray

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

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Mandarin tones

1–2–3–4 · tun1 yun2 tu3 wu4

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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.

吞雲吐霧 · find source passages ↗ · 吞云吐雾 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

tan1 wan4 tou3 mou6

Cantonese word readings for 吞雲吐霧. 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.

verb

(Taoism) a state of mediation where a person no longer requires food
(figurative) to smoke (cigarettes, or other drugs)

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

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