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心裡有鬼

简心里有鬼 · 繁心裡有鬼

Mandarin · pinyin xīn li yǒu guǐ

to have secret motives
to have a guilty conscience

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Characters in this entry

心: xīn · heart; mind, intelligence; soul; 5th lunar mansion, determinative star α Scorpii (Antares)
裡: Look up this written character
有: yǒu · have, own, possess; exist
鬼: guǐ · ghost; spirit of dead; devil; Kangxi radical 194; 23rd lunar mansion, determinative star θ Cancri
里: lǐ · unit of distance; village; lane; Kangxi radical 166

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

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Mandarin tones

1–5–3–3 · xin1 li5 you3 gui3

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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.

心裡有鬼 · find source passages ↗ · 心里有鬼 · find source passages ↗

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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 harbour intentions that can't bear daylight

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

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