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觸霉頭

简触霉头 · 繁觸霉頭

Mandarin · pinyin chù méi tóu

to cause sth unfortunate to happen (to oneself or sb else)
to do sth inauspicious
to have a stroke of bad luck

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Characters in this entry

觸: Look up this written character
霉: méi · mildew, mold; moldy, mildewed
頭: tóu · head; top; chief, first; boss
触: chù · butt, ram, gore; touch
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

4–2–2 · chu4 mei2 tou2

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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.

觸霉頭 · find source passages ↗ · 触霉头 · 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.

verb

(dialectal) to have a stroke of bad luck; to be unfortunate

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

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