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虎父無犬子

简虎父无犬子 · 繁虎父無犬子

Mandarin · pinyin hǔ fù wú quǎn zǐ

lit. father a lion, son cannot be a dog (honorific); With a distinguished father such as you, the son is sure to do well.
like father, like son

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Characters in this entry

虎: hǔ · tiger; brave, fierce; surname
父: fù · father; Kangxi radical 88
無: Look up this written character
犬: quǎn · dog; radical number 94
子: zǐ · offspring, child; fruit, seed of; first earthly branch
无: wú · negative, no, not; Kangxi radical 71

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

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Mandarin tones

3–4–2–3–3 · hu3 fu4 wu2 quan3 zi3

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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.

虎父無犬子 · find source passages ↗ · 虎父无犬子 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

fu2 fu6 mou4 hyun2 zi2

Cantonese word readings for 虎父無犬子. 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.

proverb

(idiomatic) like father, like son

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

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