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竊鉤者誅,竊國者侯
简 窃钩者诛,窃国者侯 · 繁 竊鉤者誅,竊國者侯Mandarin · pinyin qiè gōu zhě zhū , qiè guó zhě hóu
Meanings
- steal a hook and they hang you, steal the whole country and they make you a prince (idiom, from Daoist classic Zhuangzi 莊子 Zhuāng zǐ)
Characters in this entry
- 竊
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- 鉤
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- 者
- zhě · that which; he who; those who
- 誅
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- 國
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- 侯
- hóu · marquis, lord; target in archery
- 窃
- qiè · secretly, stealthily; steal; thief
- 钩
- gōu · hook, barb; sickle; stroke with
- 诛
- zhū · execute, kill, put to death; punish
- 国
- guó · nation, country, nation-state
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Connected dictionary
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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.
竊鉤者誅,竊國者侯 · find source passages ↗ · 窃钩者诛,窃国者侯 · find source passages ↗