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徇私舞弊

Mandarin · pinyin xùn sī wǔ bì

(idiom) to abuse one's position for personal gain

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Characters in this entry

徇: xùn · comply with, follow; display
私: sī · private, personal; secret
舞: wǔ · dance, posture, prance; brandish
弊: bì · evil, wrong, bad; criminal

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

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Mandarin tones

4–1–3–4 · xun4 si1 wu3 bi4

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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

seon1 si1 mou5 bai6

Cantonese word readings for 徇私舞弊. 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 engage in malpractices for selfish ends; to be involved in corruption

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

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