油嘴滑舌

Mandarin · pinyin yóu zuǐ huá shé

Meanings

  1. glib
  2. oily-mouthed and smooth talking
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Characters in this entry

油
yóu · oil, fat, grease, lard; paints
嘴
zuǐ · mouth, lips
滑
huá · slip, slide; slippery, polished
舌
shé · tongue; clapper of bell; Kangxi radical 135
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

2–3–2–2 · you2 zui3 hua2 she2

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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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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

phrase

  1. (idiomatic) speaking in a confident way but without careful thought or honesty; glib, being a fast-talker

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

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