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工具人

Mandarin · pinyin gōng jù rén

(neologism, attested by 2010) (slang) a person used by sb as a means to an end

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Characters in this entry

工: gōng · labor, work; worker, laborer
具: jù · tool, implement; draw up, write
人: rén · man; people; mankind; someone else

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

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Mandarin tones

1–4–2 · gong1 ju4 ren2

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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

gung1 geoi6 jan4

Cantonese word readings for 工具人. 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

(neologism, slang) person used by others as a tool; cat's-paw; cat's-foot

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

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