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撂挑子

Mandarin · pinyin liào tiāo zi

(coll.) to quit one's job in disgust

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Characters in this entry

撂: liào · put down, put aside; drop
挑: tiāo · a load carried on the shoulders; to carry
子: zǐ · offspring, child; fruit, seed of; first earthly branch

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Mandarin tones

4–1–5 · liao4 tiao1 zi5

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

verb

(literally, originally Beijing and Tianjin Mandarin dialects) to put one's shoulder pole down
(figurative) to throw up one's job

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

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