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甘拜下風

简甘拜下风 · 繁甘拜下風

Mandarin · pinyin gān bài xià fēng

to step down gracefully (humble expression)
to concede defeat
to play second fiddle

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Characters in this entry

甘: gān · sweetness; sweet, tasty
拜: bài · do obeisance, bow, kowtow
下: xià · under, underneath, below; down; inferior; bring down
風: fēng · wind; air; manners, atmosphere; Kangxi radical 182
风: fēng · wind; air; manners, atmosphere

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

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Mandarin tones

1–4–4–1 · gan1 bai4 xia4 feng1

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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.

甘拜下風 · find source passages ↗ · 甘拜下风 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

gam1 baai3 haa6 fung1

Cantonese word readings for 甘拜下風. 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 acknowledge one's inferiority; to submit to someone's superiority

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

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