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賊喊捉賊

简贼喊捉贼 · 繁賊喊捉賊

Mandarin · pinyin zéi hǎn zhuō zéi

lit. a thief crying "Stop the thief!" (idiom)
fig. to accuse sb of a theft and try to sneak away oneself
to cover up one's misdeeds by shifting the blame onto others

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Characters in this entry

賊: Look up this written character
喊: hǎn · shout, call out, yell; howl; cry
捉: zhuō · grasp, clutch; catch, seize
贼: zéi · thief, traitor; kill

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

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Mandarin tones

2–3–1–2 · zei2 han3 zhuo1 zei2

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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.

賊喊捉賊 · find source passages ↗ · 贼喊捉贼 · 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.

phrase

(idiomatic) to accuse others of wrongdoing as the wrongdoer to escape guilt and responsibility by diverting attention

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

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