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暗箱操作

Mandarin · pinyin àn xiāng cāo zuò

covert activities (election rigging etc)
under-the-table manipulations
black operations

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Characters in this entry

暗: àn · dark; obscure; in secret, covert
箱: xiāng · case, box, chest, trunk
操: cāo · conduct, run, control, manage
作: zuò · make; work; compose, write; act, perform

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

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Mandarin tones

4–1–1–4 · an4 xiang1 cao1 zuo4

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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.

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

am3 soeng1 cou1 zok3

Cantonese word readings for 暗箱操作. 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.

noun

(figurative) manipulation behind the scenes

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

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