說葡萄酸

简 说葡萄酸 · 繁 說葡萄酸
Mandarin · pinyin shuō pú tao suān

Meanings

  1. sour grapes (set expr. based on Aesop)
  2. lit. to say grapes are sour when you can't eat them
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Characters in this entry

說
shuō · speak, say, talk; scold, upbraid
葡
pú · grapes
萄
táo · grapes
酸
suān · tart, sour; acid; stiff; spoiled
说
shuō · speak, say, talk; scold, upbraid
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1–2–5–1 · shuo1 pu2 tao5 suan1

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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.

說葡萄酸 · find source passages ↗ · 说葡萄酸 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

syut3 pou4 tou4 syun1

Cantonese word readings for 說葡萄酸. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

說葡萄酸 · shuo1 pu2 tao5 suan1
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 101,517
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record說葡萄酸 说葡萄酸 [shuo1 pu2 tao5 suan1] /sour grapes (set expr. based on Aesop)/lit. to say grapes are sour when you can't eat them/