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推波助瀾

简推波助澜 · 繁推波助瀾

Mandarin · pinyin tuī bō zhù lán

to push the wave and add to the billows (idiom); to add momentum
to encourage sth to get bigger
to add fuel to the fire

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Characters in this entry

推: tuī · push, expel; push forward
波: bō · waves, breakers; undulations
助: zhù · help, aid, assist
瀾: Look up this written character
澜: lán · overflowing; waves, ripples

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

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Mandarin tones

1–1–4–2 · tui1 bo1 zhu4 lan2

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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.

推波助瀾 · find source passages ↗ · 推波助澜 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

teoi1 bo1 zo6 laan4

Cantonese word readings for 推波助瀾. 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 aggravate an already undesirable situation; to add fuel to the fire

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

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