護犢子

简 护犊子 · 繁 護犢子
Mandarin · pinyin hù dú zi

Meanings

  1. (fig.) to be unduly protective of one's own (often to the point of excusing or defending their wrongdoing)
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Characters in this entry

護
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犢
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子
zǐ · offspring, child; fruit, seed of; first earthly branch
护
hù · protect, guard, defend, shelter
犊
dú · calf; victim of sacrifice
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–2–5 · hu4 du2 zi5

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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.

護犢子 · find source passages ↗ · 护犊子 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

wu6 duk6 zi2

Cantonese word readings for 護犢子. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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

護犢子 · hu4 du2 zi5
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 102,409
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record護犢子 护犊子 [hu4 du2 zi5] /(fig.) to be unduly protective of one's own (often to the point of excusing or defending their wrongdoing)/