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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
- when the mice drag a shovel, the biggest thing comes second
- the tip of the iceberg
- the cockroach principle
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
- Look up this written character
- 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
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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.
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 ↗