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墊腳石

简垫脚石 · 繁墊腳石

Mandarin · pinyin diàn jiǎo shí

stepping stone
fig. person used to advance one's career

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Characters in this entry

墊: Look up this written character
腳: jiǎo · foot; base, leg, foundation
石: shí · stone, rock, mineral; Kangxi radical 112
垫: diàn · advance money, pay for another
脚: jiǎo · leg, foot; base, leg, foundation

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

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Mandarin tones

4–3–2 · dian4 jiao3 shi2

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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.

墊腳石 · find source passages ↗ · 垫脚石 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

din3 goek3 sek6

Cantonese word readings for 墊腳石. 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.

noun

stepping stone (stone used to cross or mount something)
(figurative) stepping stone; person or thing used to advance one's career

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

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