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白手套

Mandarin · pinyin bái shǒu tào

white glove
(fig.) (slang) intermediary in negotiations; proxy who acts on behalf of an official in corrupt dealings (to keep the official's involvement secret)

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Characters in this entry

白: bái · white; pure, unblemished; bright
手: shǒu · hand
套: tào · case, cover, wrapper, envelope

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

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Mandarin tones

2–3–4 · bai2 shou3 tao4

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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.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

baak6 sau2 tou3

Cantonese word readings for 白手套. 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.

noun

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see 白, 手套 (shǒutào).
puppet; a person or organization secretly controlled by someone else

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

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