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打下手

Mandarin · pinyin dǎ xià shǒu

to act in a supporting role
fig. to play second fiddle

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Characters in this entry

打: dǎ · strike, hit, beat; fight; attack
下: xià · under, underneath, below; down; inferior; bring down
手: shǒu · hand

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

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Mandarin tones

3–4–3 · da3 xia4 shou3

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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

daa2 haa6 sau2

Cantonese word readings for 打下手. 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.

verb

(colloquial) to act as an assistant; to help someone

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

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