DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

挖牆腳

简挖墙脚 · 繁挖牆腳

Mandarin · pinyin wā qiáng jiǎo

to undermine
to let someone down
to seduce someone away from something

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Characters in this entry

挖: wā · dig, dig out, gouge out, scoop
牆: Look up this written character
腳: jiǎo · foot; base, leg, foundation
墙: qiáng · wall
脚: jiǎo · leg, foot; base, leg, foundation

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

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Mandarin tones

1–2–3 · wa1 qiang2 jiao3

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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.

挖牆腳 · find source passages ↗ · 挖墙脚 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

waat3 coeng4 goek3

Cantonese word readings for 挖牆腳. 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

(verb-object) to pull the rug out from under someone
(verb-object) to steal an organisation's key member or someone's lover

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack