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打退堂鼓

Mandarin · pinyin dǎ tuì táng gǔ

lit. to beat the return drum (idiom)
fig. to give up
to turn tail

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Characters in this entry

打: dǎ · strike, hit, beat; fight; attack
退: tuì · step back, retreat, withdraw
堂: táng · hall; government office
鼓: gǔ · drum; beat, top, strike; Kangxi radical 207

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

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Mandarin tones

3–4–2–3 · da3 tui4 tang2 gu3

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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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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

daa2 teoi3 tong4 gu2

Cantonese word readings for 打退堂鼓. 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

(historical) to beat the drum before the magistrate withdraws from the court
(figurative) to beat a retreat; to give up halfway

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

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