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披肝瀝膽

简披肝沥胆 · 繁披肝瀝膽

Mandarin · pinyin pī gān lì dǎn

(idiom) to be completely honest and sincere; to show wholehearted loyalty

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Characters in this entry

披: pī · wear; split; crack
肝: gān · liver
瀝: Look up this written character
膽: Look up this written character
沥: lì · trickle, drip; strain; dregs
胆: dǎn · gall bladder; bravery, courage

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

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Mandarin tones

1–1–4–3 · pi1 gan1 li4 dan3

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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.

披肝瀝膽 · find source passages ↗ · 披肝沥胆 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

pei1 gon1 lik6 daam2

Cantonese word readings for 披肝瀝膽. 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

(hyperbolic) to pour one's heart out; to talk without reserve; to have a heart-to-heart talk

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

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