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埋頭苦幹

简埋头苦干 · 繁埋頭苦幹

Mandarin · pinyin mái tóu kǔ gàn

to bury oneself in work (idiom); to be engrossed in work
to make an all-out effort
up to the neck in work

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Characters in this entry

埋: mái · bury, secrete, conceal
頭: tóu · head; top; chief, first; boss
苦: kǔ · bitter; hardship, suffering
幹: Look up this written character
头: tóu · head; top; chief, first; boss
干: gàn · oppose, offend; invade; dried

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

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Mandarin tones

2–2–3–4 · mai2 tou2 ku3 gan4

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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.

埋頭苦幹 · find source passages ↗ · 埋头苦干 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

maai4 tau4 fu2 gon3

Cantonese word readings for 埋頭苦幹. 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

(idiomatic) bury oneself in work

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

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