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渾水摸魚

简浑水摸鱼 · 繁渾水摸魚

Mandarin · pinyin hún shuǐ mō yú

to fish in troubled water (idiom); to take advantage of a crisis for personal gain

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Characters in this entry

渾: Look up this written character
水: shuǐ · water, liquid, lotion, juice
摸: mō · gently touch with hand; caress
魚: yú · fish; surname; Kangxi radical 195
浑: hún · muddy, turbid; blend, merge, mix
鱼: yú · fish; surname; Kangxi radical 195

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

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Mandarin tones

2–3–1–2 · hun2 shui3 mo1 yu2

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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.

渾水摸魚 · find source passages ↗ · 浑水摸鱼 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

wan6 seoi2 mo2 jyu4

Cantonese word readings for 渾水摸魚. 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.

phrase

(idiomatic) to take advantage of a crisis for personal gain; to fish in troubled waters

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

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