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懸羊頭賣狗肉

简悬羊头卖狗肉 · 繁懸羊頭賣狗肉

Mandarin · pinyin xuán yáng tóu mài gǒu ròu

see 掛羊頭賣狗肉 guà yáng tóu mài gǒu ròu

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Characters in this entry

懸: Look up this written character
羊: yáng · sheep, goat; Kangxi radical 123
頭: tóu · head; top; chief, first; boss
賣: Look up this written character
狗: gǒu · dog, Canis familiaris
肉: ròu · flesh; meat; Kangxi radical 130
悬: xuán · hang, suspend, hoist; be hung
头: tóu · head; top; chief, first; boss
卖: mài · sell; betray; show off

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

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Mandarin tones

2–2–2–4–3–4 · xuan2 yang2 tou2 mai4 gou3 rou4

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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.

懸羊頭賣狗肉 · find source passages ↗ · 悬羊头卖狗肉 · 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) synonym of 掛羊頭賣狗肉 /挂羊头卖狗肉 (guà yángtóu mài gǒuròu, “to cry wine and sell vinegar; to use a good cause as a cover for doing something bad”)

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

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