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賣關子

简卖关子 · 繁賣關子

Mandarin · pinyin mài guān zi

(in storytelling) to keep listeners in suspense
(in general) to keep people on tenterhooks

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Characters in this entry

賣: Look up this written character
關: Look up this written character
子: zǐ · offspring, child; fruit, seed of; first earthly branch
卖: mài · sell; betray; show off
关: guān · frontier pass; close; relation

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

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Mandarin tones

4–1–5 · mai4 guan1 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.

賣關子 · find source passages ↗ · 卖关子 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

maai6 gwaan1 zi2

Cantonese word readings for 賣關子. 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.

verb

(idiomatic) to leave the audience on a cliffhanger

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

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