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無殼蝸牛

简无壳蜗牛 · 繁無殼蝸牛

Mandarin · pinyin wú ké wō niú

fig. people who cannot afford to buy their own house

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Characters in this entry

無: Look up this written character
殼: Look up this written character
蝸: Look up this written character
牛: niú · cow, ox, bull; Kangxi radical 93; 9th lunar mansion, determinative star β Capricorni (Dabih)
无: wú · negative, no, not; Kangxi radical 71
壳: ké · casing, shell, husk
蜗: wō · a snail, Eulota callizoma

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Mandarin tones

2–2–1–2 · wu2 ke2 wo1 niu2

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

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無殼蝸牛 · find source passages ↗ · 无壳蜗牛 · 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.

noun

(Taiwan, Hong Kong, figuratively) people who cannot afford to buy their own home (Classifier: 隻／只 m)

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

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