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胸有成竹

Mandarin · pinyin xiōng yǒu chéng zhú

(idiom) to have a well-thought-out plan in mind

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Characters in this entry

胸: xiōng · breast, bosom, chest; thorax
有: yǒu · have, own, possess; exist
成: chéng · completed, finished, fixed
竹: zhú · bamboo; flute; Kangxi radical 118

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

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Mandarin tones

1–3–2–2 · xiong1 you3 cheng2 zhu2

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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

hung1 jau5 sing4 zuk1

Cantonese word readings for 胸有成竹. 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

(figurative) to have a well-thought-out plan; to plan in advance

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

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