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太歲頭上動土

简太岁头上动土 · 繁太歲頭上動土

Cantonese · source Jyutpingtaai3 seoi3 tau4 soeng6 dung6 tou2

"to make trouble by daring to leap on an earth god's head"; to provoke somebody far superior in power; Metaphor: to offend those of greater power.

About these definitions

Source definition segments, in their original order. Characters a definition cites are shown without their Mandarin pinyin; classifier lists that CC-Canto copied from CC-CEDICT are marked Mandarin. The community dictionary is not independently verified by zimai.

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Reading & tones

taai33 · mid levelseoi33 · mid leveltau44 · low fallingsoeng66 · low leveldung66 · low leveltou22 · high rising

Schematic citation-tone diagrams from the source numbers. These are not recordings or predictions of connected speech.

Same syllable, six tones

taai呔taai1tiretaai2—太taai3Great-grandtaai4—taai5—taai6—

seoi须seoi1must 水seoi2water 税seoi3taxes 垂seoi4to hang 绪seoi5beginnings 瑞seoi6lucky

tau偷tau1to stealtau2—透tau3to penetrate 头tau4headtau5—tau6—

soeng相soeng1each other 想soeng2to thinksoeng3—常soeng4always 绱soeng5上soeng6on top

dung東dung1east 懂dung2Know 冻dung3Iceddung4—dung5—動dung6to move

tou叨tou1to get the benefit of 土tou2earth 套tou3cover 图tou4diagram 肚tou5bellytou6—

Characters whose customary Unihan reading (kCantonese) is this syllable in each tone, chosen as in the tone atlas (2013 standard level, then the number of CC-CEDICT words they form), with CC-Canto 2017's meaning for that reading; a dash means no catalogue character has that reading. Checked syllables (-p, -t, -k) normally carry tones 1, 3 and 6. Character readings, not word readings; no frequency implied.

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Written characters

太歲頭上動土岁头动

Both source spellings are represented. Written membership is not an etymological or semantic claim.

Cantonese characters and the Mandarin bridge ↗

Mandarin comparison · separate source entries

CC-Canto includes this pinyin reference: tai4 sui4 tou2 shang5 dong4 tu3. It does not establish a Mandarin word with the same meaning.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

taai3 seoi3 tau4 soeng6 dung6 tou2

Cantonese word readings for 太歲頭上動土. 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) to beard the lion in his den; to offend or provoke the most powerful; to provoke somebody far superior in power or strength

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

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