挑撥是非

简 挑拨是非 · 繁 挑撥是非
Mandarin · pinyin tiǎo bō shì fēi

Meanings

  1. to incite a quarrel (idiom); to sow discord between people
  2. to tell tales
  3. to make mischief
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Characters in this entry

挑
tiāo · a load carried on the shoulders; to carry
撥
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是
shì · indeed, yes, right; to be; demonstrative pronoun, this, that
非
fēi · not, negative, non-; oppose; Kangxi radical 175
拨
bō · move; dispel; distribute
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

3–1–4–1 · tiao3 bo1 shi4 fei1

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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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挑撥是非 · tiao3 bo1 shi4 fei1
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 47,042
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record挑撥是非 挑拨是非 [tiao3 bo1 shi4 fei1] /to incite a quarrel (idiom); to sow discord between people/to tell tales/to make mischief/