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拋頭露面

简抛头露面 · 繁拋頭露面

Mandarin · pinyin pāo tóu lù miàn

to put oneself out in the public eye (said of sb for whom doing so is deemed unseemly)

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Characters in this entry

拋: Look up this written character
頭: tóu · head; top; chief, first; boss
露: lù · dew; bare, open, exposed
面: miàn · face; surface; plane; side, dimension; Kangxi radical 176
抛: pāo · throw (away)
头: tóu · head; top; chief, first; boss

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

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Mandarin tones

1–2–4–4 · pao1 tou2 lu4 mian4

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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.

拋頭露面 · find source passages ↗ · 抛头露面 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

paau1 tau4 lou6 min6

Cantonese word readings for 拋頭露面. 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

(slightly derogatory, originally of women) to show one's face in public; to put oneself about

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

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