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抱頭鼠竄

简抱头鼠窜 · 繁抱頭鼠竄

Mandarin · pinyin bào tóu shǔ cuàn

to cover one's head and sneak away like a rat (idiom); to flee ignominiously

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Characters in this entry

抱: bào · embrace, hold in arms, enfold
頭: tóu · head; top; chief, first; boss
鼠: shǔ · rat, mouse; Kangxi radical 208
竄: Look up this written character
头: tóu · head; top; chief, first; boss
窜: cuàn · run away; revise, edit; expel

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

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Mandarin tones

4–2–3–4 · bao4 tou2 shu3 cuan4

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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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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

phrase

(idiomatic) to flee like a scared rabbit; to scurry away like a rat

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

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