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畫虎類犬

简画虎类犬 · 繁畫虎類犬

Mandarin · pinyin huà hǔ lèi quǎn

to try to draw a tiger but end up with a likeness of a dog (idiom)
to try to do sth overambitious and end up botching it

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Characters in this entry

畫: huà · delineate, painting, picture, drawing; draw
虎: hǔ · tiger; brave, fierce; surname
類: Look up this written character
犬: quǎn · dog; radical number 94
画: huà · a painting, picture, drawing; to draw
类: lèi · class, group, kind, category

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

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Mandarin tones

4–3–4–3 · hua4 hu3 lei4 quan3

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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.

畫虎類犬 · find source passages ↗ · 画虎类犬 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

waak6 fu2 leoi6 hyun2

Cantonese word readings for 畫虎類犬. 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

(abbreviation, alt-of, idiomatic) short for 畫虎不成反類犬／画虎不成反类犬 (huà hǔ bùchéng fǎn lèi quǎn)

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

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