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賣官鬻爵

简卖官鬻爵 · 繁賣官鬻爵

Mandarin · pinyin mài guān yù jué

(idiom) to grant government positions or official titles in exchange for bribes

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Characters in this entry

賣: Look up this written character
官: guān · official, public servant
鬻: yù · sell; child, childish; nourish
爵: jué · feudal title or rank
卖: mài · sell; betray; show off

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

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Mandarin tones

4–1–4–2 · mai4 guan1 yu4 jue2

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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.

賣官鬻爵 · find source passages ↗ · 卖官鬻爵 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

maai6 gun1 juk6 zoek3

Cantonese word readings for 賣官鬻爵. 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) to take bribes in exchange for granting an official or noble title

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

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