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股掌

Mandarin · pinyin gǔ zhǎng

(have sb in) the palm of one's hand
fig. (under) one's complete control

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Characters in this entry

股: gǔ · thighs, haunches, rump; share
掌: zhǎng · palm of hand, sole of foot, paw

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

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Mandarin tones

3–3 · gu3 zhang3

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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.

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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.

noun

(literary) thigh and palm (of a hand)
(archaic) assistant to a government official

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

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