DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

買櫝還珠

简买椟还珠 · 繁買櫝還珠

Mandarin · pinyin mǎi dú huán zhū

to buy a wooden box and return the pearls inside
to show poor judgment (idiom)

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

買: Look up this written character
櫝: Look up this written character
還: hái · still, yet, also, besides
珠: zhū · precious stone, gem, jewel, pearl
买: mǎi · buy, purchase; bribe, persuade
椟: dú · cabinet, wardrobe; closet
还: hái · still, yet, also, besides

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

3–2–2–1 · mai3 du2 huan2 zhu1

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

5character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

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.

買櫝還珠 · find source passages ↗ · 买椟还珠 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

maai5 duk6 waan4 zyu1

Cantonese word readings for 買櫝還珠. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(figurative) to focus on the trivial and neglect the essential; to get one's priorities wrong

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack