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虛頭巴腦

简虚头巴脑 · 繁虛頭巴腦

Mandarin · pinyin xū tóu bā nǎo

(coll.) all show and no substance

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Characters in this entry

虛: Look up this written character
頭: tóu · head; top; chief, first; boss
巴: bā · greatly desire, anxiously hope
腦: Look up this written character
虚: xū · false
头: tóu · head; top; chief, first; boss
脑: nǎo · brain

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

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Mandarin tones

1–2–1–3 · xu1 tou2 ba1 nao3

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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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