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掉鏈子

简掉链子 · 繁掉鏈子

Mandarin · pinyin diào liàn zi

to have one's bicycle chain come off
(fig.) to let sb down; to drop the ball; to screw up

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Characters in this entry

掉: diào · turn, move; shake, wag; drop down
鏈: Look up this written character
子: zǐ · offspring, child; fruit, seed of; first earthly branch
链: liàn · chain, wire, cable; chain, shack

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

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Mandarin tones

4–4–5 · diao4 lian4 zi5

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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.

掉鏈子 · find source passages ↗ · 掉链子 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

diu6 lin2 zi2

Cantonese word readings for 掉鏈子. 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, figurative) to drop the ball

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

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