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投桃報李

简投桃报李 · 繁投桃報李

Mandarin · pinyin tóu táo bào lǐ

toss a peach, get back a plum (idiom); to return a favor
to exchange gifts
Scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours.

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Characters in this entry

投: tóu · throw, cast, fling, pitch; jump
桃: táo · peach; marriage; surname
報: Look up this written character
李: lǐ · plum; judge; surname
报: bào · report, tell, announce

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

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Mandarin tones

2–2–4–3 · tou2 tao2 bao4 li3

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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.

投桃報李 · find source passages ↗ · 投桃报李 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(idiomatic) to return a favor; to exchange gifts; you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours.

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack