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朋友妻不可欺

Mandarin · pinyin péng you qī bù kě qī

you should not covet your friend's wife (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

朋: péng · friend, pal, acquaintance
友: yǒu · friend, companion; fraternity
妻: qī · wife
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
可: kě · may, can, -able; possibly
欺: qī · cheat, double-cross, deceive

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

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Mandarin tones

2–5–1–4–3–1 · peng2 you5 qi1 bu4 ke3 qi1

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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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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

pang4 jau5 cai1 bat1 ho2 hei1

Cantonese word readings for 朋友妻不可欺. 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.

proverb

A man should not covet his friend's wife. / A friend's wife is not to be flirted with.

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

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