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河東獅吼

简河东狮吼 · 繁河東獅吼

Mandarin · pinyin Hé dōng shī hǒu

lit. the lioness from Hedong roars (idiom)
fig. refers to a shrewish wife or a henpecked husband

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Characters in this entry

河: hé · river; stream; the Yellow River
東: dōng · east, eastern, eastward
獅: Look up this written character
吼: hǒu · roar, shout; bark, howl
东: dōng · east, eastern, eastward
狮: shī · lion

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

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Mandarin tones

2–1–1–3 · He2 dong1 shi1 hou3

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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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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

phrase

(idiomatic) the "lioness's roar", used to describe the loud complaining of an overbearing wife from the perspective of her henpecked husband.

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

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