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摩拳擦掌

Mandarin · pinyin mó quán cā zhǎng

fig. to rub one's fists and wipe one's palms (idiom)
to roll up one's sleeves for battle
eager to get into action or start on a task

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Characters in this entry

摩: mó · rub, scour, grind; friction
拳: quán · fist; various forms of boxing
擦: cā · wipe, scrub, rub, scour; brush
掌: zhǎng · palm of hand, sole of foot, paw

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

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Mandarin tones

2–2–1–3 · mo2 quan2 ca1 zhang3

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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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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(idiomatic) to rub one's fists and wipe one's palms; to roll up one's sleeves for a battle

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

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