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爾虞我詐

简尔虞我诈 · 繁爾虞我詐

Mandarin · pinyin ěr yú wǒ zhà

lit. you hoodwink me and I cheat you (idiom)
fig. each tries to outwit the other
deceit and treachery

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Characters in this entry

爾: Look up this written character
虞: yú · concerned about, anxious, worried
我: wǒ · our, us, i, me, my, we
詐: Look up this written character
尔: ěr · you; that, those; final particle
诈: zhà · cheat, defraud, swindle; trick

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

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Mandarin tones

3–2–3–4 · er3 yu2 wo3 zha4

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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.

爾虞我詐 · find source passages ↗ · 尔虞我诈 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

ji5 jyu4 ngo5 zaa3

Cantonese word readings for 爾虞我詐. 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 cheat or deceive one another

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

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