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為虎作倀

简为虎作伥 · 繁為虎作倀

Mandarin · pinyin wèi hǔ zuò chāng

(idiom) to act as accomplice to a villain; to assist in wrongdoing

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Characters in this entry

為: Look up this written character
虎: hǔ · tiger; brave, fierce; surname
作: zuò · make; work; compose, write; act, perform
倀: Look up this written character
为: wèi · do, handle, govern, act; be
伥: chāng · ghost of one devoured by tiger

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

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Mandarin tones

4–3–4–1 · wei4 hu3 zuo4 chang1

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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.

為虎作倀 · find source passages ↗ · 为虎作伥 · find source passages ↗

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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 assist a devil; to help a villain do evil

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

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