巧舌如簧

Mandarin · pinyin qiǎo shé rú huáng

Meanings

  1. lit. to have a tongue like the reed of a wind instrument (idiom)
  2. fig. to have a glib tongue
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Characters in this entry

巧
qiǎo · skillful, ingenious, clever
舌
shé · tongue; clapper of bell; Kangxi radical 135
如
rú · if, supposing; as if; like, as
簧
huáng · reed of woodwind instrument
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

3–2–2–2 · qiao3 she2 ru2 huang2

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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 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

haau2 sit3 jyu4 wong4

Cantonese word readings for 巧舌如簧. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

巧舌如簧 · qiao3 she2 ru2 huang2
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 36,613
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record巧舌如簧 巧舌如簧 [qiao3 she2 ru2 huang2] /lit. to have a tongue like the reed of a wind instrument (idiom)/fig. to have a glib tongue/