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爛泥扶不上牆

简烂泥扶不上墙 · 繁爛泥扶不上牆

Mandarin · pinyin làn ní fú bù shàng qiáng

useless (idiom)
worthless
inept

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Characters in this entry

爛: Look up this written character
泥: ní · mud, mire; earth, clay; plaster
扶: fú · support, help; protect; hold on
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
上: shàng · top; superior, highest; go up, send up
牆: Look up this written character
烂: làn · rotten, spoiled, decayed
墙: qiáng · wall

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

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Mandarin tones

4–2–2–4–4–2 · lan4 ni2 fu2 bu4 shang4 qiang2

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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.

爛泥扶不上牆 · find source passages ↗ · 烂泥扶不上墙 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

laan6 nai4 fu4 bat1 soeng5 coeng4

Cantonese word readings for 爛泥扶不上牆. 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 be so incompetent that others' help is of no use; to be hopelessly inept

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

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