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管中窺豹

简管中窥豹 · 繁管中窺豹

Mandarin · pinyin guǎn zhōng kuī bào

lit. to see a leopard through a narrow tube (idiom); fig. to miss the big picture

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Characters in this entry

管: guǎn · pipe, tube, duct; woodwind music
中: zhōng · central; center, middle; in the midst of; hit (target); attain
窺: Look up this written character
豹: bào · leopard, panther; surname
窥: kuī · peep, watch, spy on, pry

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

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Mandarin tones

3–1–1–4 · guan3 zhong1 kui1 bao4

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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.

管中窺豹 · find source passages ↗ · 管中窥豹 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

gun2 zung1 kwai1 paau3

Cantonese word readings for 管中窺豹. 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 see only part of the big picture; to have only a limited view of something

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

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