DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

腳踏兩隻船

简脚踏两只船 · 繁腳踏兩隻船

Mandarin · pinyin jiǎo tà liǎng zhī chuán

to have a foot in both camps
to have a bet each way
to be having an affair

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Characters in this entry

腳: jiǎo · foot; base, leg, foundation
踏: tà · step on, trample, tread on, walk
兩: liǎng · two, both, pair, couple; ounce
隻: zhī · single, one of pair, lone; measure word
船: chuán · ship, boat, vessel
脚: jiǎo · leg, foot; base, leg, foundation
两: liǎng · two, both, pair, couple; ounce
只: zhǐ · only, just, simply

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

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Mandarin tones

3–4–3–1–2 · jiao3 ta4 liang3 zhi1 chuan2

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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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