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拍馬屁

简拍马屁 · 繁拍馬屁

Mandarin · pinyin pāi mǎ pì

to flatter
to fawn on
to butter sb up
toadying
bootlicking

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Characters in this entry

拍: pāi · clap, tap, beat; beat or rhythm
馬: Look up this written character
屁: pì · break wind; fart; buttocks
马: mǎ · horse; surname; Kangxi radical 187

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

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Mandarin tones

1–3–4 · pai1 ma3 pi4

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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.

拍馬屁 · find source passages ↗ · 拍马屁 · find source passages ↗

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

paak3 maa5 pei3

Cantonese word readings for 拍馬屁. 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

(idiomatic, colloquial, intransitive) to brownnose; to kiss someone's ass; to suck up to

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

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