DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

蒼蠅老虎

简苍蝇老虎 · 繁蒼蠅老虎

Mandarin · pinyin cāng ying lǎo hǔ

(coll.) jumping spider (which pounces on houseflies, hence the Chinese name)

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

蒼: Look up this written character
蠅: Look up this written character
老: lǎo · old, aged; experienced; Kangxi radical 125
虎: hǔ · tiger; brave, fierce; surname
苍: cāng · blue; green
蝇: yíng · flies

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

1–5–3–3 · cang1 ying5 lao3 hu3

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

4character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

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.

蒼蠅老虎 · find source passages ↗ · 苍蝇老虎 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗