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民脂民膏

Mandarin · pinyin mín zhī mín gāo

lit. the fat and wealth of the people (idiom); the nation's hard-won wealth (esp. as an object of unscrupulous exploitation)
the people's blood, sweat and tears

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Characters in this entry

民: mín · people, subjects, citizens
脂: zhī · fat, grease, lard; grease
膏: gāo · grease, fat; paste, ointment

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

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Mandarin tones

2–1–2–1 · min2 zhi1 min2 gao1

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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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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

man4 zi1 man4 gou1

Cantonese word readings for 民脂民膏. 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

wealth gathered from the people by a government

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

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