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砸鍋賣鐵

简砸锅卖铁 · 繁砸鍋賣鐵

Mandarin · pinyin zá guō mài tiě

to be willing to sacrifice everything one has (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

砸: zá · smash, crush, break; pound, mash
鍋: Look up this written character
賣: Look up this written character
鐵: Look up this written character
锅: guō · cooking-pot, saucepan
卖: mài · sell; betray; show off
铁: tiě · iron; strong, solid, firm

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

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Mandarin tones

2–1–4–3 · za2 guo1 mai4 tie3

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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.

砸鍋賣鐵 · find source passages ↗ · 砸锅卖铁 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

zaap3 wo1 maai6 tit3

Cantonese word readings for 砸鍋賣鐵. 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

(literal) to smash pots and pans and sell the iron
(figurative) to give away all one has; to spend one's last penny

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

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