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胳膊肘朝外拐

Mandarin · pinyin gē bo zhǒu cháo wài guǎi

lit. the elbow turns outward (idiom)
fig. to side with outsiders rather than one's own people

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Characters in this entry

胳: gē · armpit, arms
膊: bó · shoulders, upper arms
肘: zhǒu · the elbow; help a person shoulder a load
朝: cháo · dynasty; morning
外: wài · out, outside, external; foreign
拐: guǎi · kidnap, abduct; turn

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

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Mandarin tones

1–5–3–2–4–3 · ge1 bo5 zhou3 chao2 wai4 guai3

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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.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

gaak3 bok3 zau2 ciu4 ngoi6 gwaai2

Cantonese word readings for 胳膊肘朝外拐. 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 side with outsiders rather than one's own

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

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