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脫胎換骨

简脱胎换骨 · 繁脫胎換骨

Mandarin · pinyin tuō tāi huàn gǔ

to shed one's mortal body and exchange one's bones (idiom); born again Daoist
to turn over a new leaf
fig. to change wholly
to create from other material (story, artwork etc)

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Characters in this entry

脫: Look up this written character
胎: tāi · unborn child, embryo, fetus
換: huàn · change, exchange; substitute
骨: gǔ · bone; skeleton; frame, framework; Kangxi radical 188
脱: tuō · take off
换: huàn · change

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

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Mandarin tones

1–1–4–3 · tuo1 tai1 huan4 gu3

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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.

脫胎換骨 · find source passages ↗ · 脱胎换骨 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

tyut3 toi1 wun6 gwat1

Cantonese word readings for 脫胎換骨. 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 completely reform oneself

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

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