DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

笑裡藏刀

简笑里藏刀 · 繁笑裡藏刀

Mandarin · pinyin xiào lǐ cáng dāo

lit. a dagger hidden in smiles (idiom); friendly manners belying hypocritical intentions
when the fox preaches, look to the geese

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

笑: xiào · smile, laugh, giggle; snicker
裡: Look up this written character
藏: cáng · hide, conceal; hoard, store up
刀: dāo · knife; old coin; measure
里: lǐ · unit of distance; village; lane; Kangxi radical 166

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

4–3–2–1 · xiao4 li3 cang2 dao1

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

4character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

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.

笑裡藏刀 · find source passages ↗ · 笑里藏刀 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(idiomatic) to act in a friendly manner with hypocritical intentions; to be a wolf in sheep's clothing

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack