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貪官污吏

简贪官污吏 · 繁貪官污吏

Mandarin · pinyin tān guān wū lì

grasping officials, corrupt mandarins (idiom); abuse and corruption

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Characters in this entry

貪: Look up this written character
官: guān · official, public servant
污: wū · filthy, dirty, impure, polluted
吏: lì · government official, magistrate
贪: tān · be greedy, covet; covetous

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

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Mandarin tones

1–1–1–4 · tan1 guan1 wu1 li4

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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.

貪官污吏 · find source passages ↗ · 贪官污吏 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

taam1 gun1 wu1 lei6

Cantonese word readings for 貪官污吏. 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) corrupt official

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

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