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目空一切

Mandarin · pinyin mù kōng yī qiè

the eye can see nothing worthwhile all around (idiom); arrogant
condescending
supercilious

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Characters in this entry

目: mù · eye; look, see; division, topic; Kangxi radical 109
空: kōng · empty, hollow, bare, deserted
一: yī · one; a, an; alone
切: qiè · cut, mince, slice, carve

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

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Mandarin tones

4–1–1–4 · mu4 kong1 yi1 qie4

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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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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(idiomatic) to be very arrogant; to be very conceited

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

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