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空口說白話

简空口说白话 · 繁空口說白話

Mandarin · pinyin kōng kǒu shuō bái huà

to make empty promises

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Characters in this entry

空: kōng · empty, hollow, bare, deserted
口: kǒu · mouth; open end; entrance, gate
說: shuō · speak, say, talk; scold, upbraid
白: bái · white; pure, unblemished; bright
話: huà · speech, talk, language; dialect
说: shuō · speak, say, talk; scold, upbraid
话: huà · speech, talk, language; dialect

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

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Mandarin tones

1–3–1–2–4 · kong1 kou3 shuo1 bai2 hua4

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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.

空口說白話 · find source passages ↗ · 空口说白话 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

hung1 hau2 syut3 baak6 waa6

Cantonese word readings for 空口說白話. 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 make empty promises

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

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