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虎頭蛇尾

简虎头蛇尾 · 繁虎頭蛇尾

Mandarin · pinyin hǔ tóu shé wěi

lit. tiger's head, snake's tail (idiom); fig. a strong start but weak finish

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Characters in this entry

虎: hǔ · tiger; brave, fierce; surname
頭: tóu · head; top; chief, first; boss
蛇: shé · snake
尾: wěi · tail, extremity; end, stern; 6th lunar mansion, determinative star μ¹ Scorpii (Xamidimura)
头: tóu · head; top; chief, first; boss

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

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Mandarin tones

3–2–2–3 · hu3 tou2 she2 wei3

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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.

虎頭蛇尾 · find source passages ↗ · 虎头蛇尾 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

fu2 tau4 se4 mei5

Cantonese word readings for 虎頭蛇尾. 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

(idiomatic) to start off strong, but finish weak; to be inconsistent with one's effort

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

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