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授人以柄

Mandarin · pinyin shòu rén yǐ bǐng

to hand someone the swordhilt (idiom)
to give someone a hold on oneself

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Characters in this entry

授: shòu · give to, transmit; confer
人: rén · man; people; mankind; someone else
以: yǐ · by means of; thereby, therefore; consider as; in order to
柄: bǐng · handle, lever, knob; authority

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

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Mandarin tones

4–2–3–3 · shou4 ren2 yi3 bing3

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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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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

sau6 jan4 ji5 beng3

Cantonese word readings for 授人以柄. 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

(idiomatic) to relinquish one's power or authority to someone else
(idiomatic) leave room for criticism

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

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