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沾花惹草

Mandarin · pinyin zhān huā rě cǎo

to fondle the flowers and trample the grass (idiom)
to womanize
to frequent brothels
to sow one's wild oats

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Characters in this entry

沾: zhān · moisten, wet, soak; touch
花: huā · flower; blossoms
惹: rě · irritate, vex, offend, incite
草: cǎo · grass, straw, thatch, herbs

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

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Mandarin tones

1–1–3–3 · zhan1 hua1 re3 cao3

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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 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

zim1 faa1 je5 cou2

Cantonese word readings for 沾花惹草. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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