DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

蒙在鼓裡

简蒙在鼓里 · 繁蒙在鼓裡

Mandarin · pinyin méng zài gǔ lǐ

lit. kept inside a drum (idiom)
fig. completely in the dark

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Characters in this entry

蒙: méng · cover; ignorant; suffer; Mongolia; hexagram ䷃
在: zài · be at, in, on; consist in, rest
鼓: gǔ · drum; beat, top, strike; Kangxi radical 207
裡: Look up this written character
里: lǐ · unit of distance; village; lane; Kangxi radical 166

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

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Mandarin tones

2–4–3–3 · meng2 zai4 gu3 li3

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4character links1same-tone record

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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.

蒙在鼓裡 · find source passages ↗ · 蒙在鼓里 · find source passages ↗

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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 be kept in the dark

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

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