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巴頭探腦

简巴头探脑 · 繁巴頭探腦

Mandarin · pinyin bā tóu tàn nǎo

to poke one's head in and pry (idiom); to spy
nosy

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Characters in this entry

巴: bā · greatly desire, anxiously hope
頭: tóu · head; top; chief, first; boss
探: tàn · find, locate; search, grope for
腦: Look up this written character
头: tóu · head; top; chief, first; boss
脑: nǎo · brain

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

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Mandarin tones

1–2–4–3 · ba1 tou2 tan4 nao3

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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.

巴頭探腦 · find source passages ↗ · 巴头探脑 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

baa1 tau4 taam3 nou5

Cantonese word readings for 巴頭探腦. 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

(regional) to pop one's head in and look about

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

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