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徒有其名

Mandarin · pinyin tú yǒu qí míng

with an undeserved reputation (idiom); unwarranted fame
nowhere near as good as he's made out to be

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Characters in this entry

徒: tú · disciple, follower; go on foot
有: yǒu · have, own, possess; exist
其: qí · his, her, its, their; that
名: míng · name, rank, title, position

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

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Mandarin tones

2–3–2–2 · tu2 you3 qi2 ming2

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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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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

tou4 jau5 kei4 ming4

Cantonese word readings for 徒有其名. 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 be known for a quality one actually lacks

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

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