DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT
竊國者侯,竊鉤者誅
简 窃国者侯,窃钩者诛 · 繁 竊國者侯,竊鉤者誅Mandarin · pinyin qiè guó zhě hóu , qiè gōu zhě zhū
Meanings
- steal the whole country and they make you a prince, steal a hook and they hang you (idiom, from Daoist classic Zhuangzi 莊子 Zhuāng zǐ)
Characters in this entry
- 竊
- Look up this written character
- 國
- Look up this written character
- 者
- zhě · that which; he who; those who
- 侯
- hóu · marquis, lord; target in archery
- 鉤
- Look up this written character
- 誅
- Look up this written character
- 窃
- qiè · secretly, stealthily; steal; thief
- 国
- guó · nation, country, nation-state
- 钩
- gōu · hook, barb; sickle; stroke with
- 诛
- zhū · execute, kill, put to death; punish
Explore the spelling
Connected dictionary
6character links1source reference
Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.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.
竊國者侯,竊鉤者誅 · find source passages ↗ · 窃国者侯,窃钩者诛 · find source passages ↗