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惡人先告狀

简恶人先告状 · 繁惡人先告狀

Mandarin · pinyin è rén xiān gào zhuàng

the guilty party files the suit
the thief cries thief

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Characters in this entry

惡: Look up this written character
人: rén · man; people; mankind; someone else
先: xiān · first, former, previous
告: gào · tell, announce, inform; accuse
狀: Look up this written character
恶: è · evil, wicked, bad, foul
状: zhuàng · form; appearance; shape; official

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

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Mandarin tones

4–2–1–4–4 · e4 ren2 xian1 gao4 zhuang4

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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.

惡人先告狀 · find source passages ↗ · 恶人先告状 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

ok3 jan4 sin1 gou3 zong6

Cantonese word readings for 惡人先告狀. 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) the bad guy is the first to sling accusations
(idiomatic) the guilty party filing a suit first, to pre-empt action by the victim

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

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