老鼠拖木鍁,大頭在後頭

简 老鼠拖木锨,大头在后头 · 繁 老鼠拖木鍁,大頭在後頭
Mandarin · pinyin lǎo shǔ tuō mù xiān , dà tóu zài hòu tou

Meanings

  1. when the mice drag a shovel, the biggest thing comes second
  2. the tip of the iceberg
  3. the cockroach principle
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Characters in this entry

老
lǎo · old, aged; experienced; Kangxi radical 125
鼠
shǔ · rat, mouse; Kangxi radical 208
拖
tuō · drag, tow, haul; delay, prolong
木
mù · tree; wood, lumber; wooden
鍁
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大
dà · big, great, vast, large, high
頭
tóu · head; top; chief, first; boss
在
zài · be at, in, on; consist in, rest
後
hòu · behind, rear, after; descendents
锨
xiān · shovel
头
tóu · head; top; chief, first; boss
后
hòu · queen, empress, sovereign; (simp. for 後) behind, rear, after
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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老鼠拖木鍁,大頭在後頭 · find source passages ↗ · 老鼠拖木锨,大头在后头 · find source passages ↗

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老鼠拖木鍁,大頭在後頭 · lao3 shu3 tuo1 mu4 xian1 , da4 tou2 zai4 hou4 tou5
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 88,861
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record老鼠拖木鍁,大頭在後頭 老鼠拖木锨,大头在后头 [lao3 shu3 tuo1 mu4 xian1 , da4 tou2 zai4 hou4 tou5] /when the mice drag a shovel, the biggest thing comes second/the tip of the iceberg/the cockroach principle/