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揩油

Mandarin · pinyin kāi yóu

to secretively take advantage of others or public resources for minor personal gain
to grope a woman or girl

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Characters in this entry

揩: kāi · rub and wipe, dust, clean
油: yóu · oil, fat, grease, lard; paints

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Mandarin tones

1–2 · kai1 you2

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

haai1 jau2

Cantonese word readings for 揩油. 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

to take advantage of or seek to gain benefits through illegal means; to scrounge
to grope a woman or girl

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

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