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牆頭草

简墙头草 · 繁牆頭草

Mandarin · pinyin qiáng tóu cǎo

sb who goes whichever way the wind blows
sb with no mind of their own
easily swayed person
opportunist

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Characters in this entry

牆: Look up this written character
頭: tóu · head; top; chief, first; boss
草: cǎo · grass, straw, thatch, herbs
墙: qiáng · wall
头: tóu · head; top; chief, first; boss

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

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Mandarin tones

2–2–3 · qiang2 tou2 cao3

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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.

牆頭草 · find source passages ↗ · 墙头草 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

coeng4 tau4 cou2

Cantonese word readings for 牆頭草. 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) fence sitter; a person who is on the fence

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

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