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瞞天過海

简瞒天过海 · 繁瞞天過海

Mandarin · pinyin mán tiān guò hǎi

to cross the sea by a trick (idiom)
to achieve one's aim by underhanded means

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Characters in this entry

瞞: Look up this written character
天: tiān · sky, heaven; god, celestial
過: guò · pass, pass through, go across
海: hǎi · sea, ocean; maritime
瞒: mán · deceive, lie; eyes half-closed
过: guò · pass, pass through, go across

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

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Mandarin tones

2–1–4–3 · man2 tian1 guo4 hai3

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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.

瞞天過海 · find source passages ↗ · 瞒天过海 · find source passages ↗

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

mun4 tin1 gwo3 hoi2

Cantonese word readings for 瞞天過海. 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 achieve one's aim underhandedly

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

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