DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

逃之夭夭

Mandarin · pinyin táo zhī yāo yāo

to escape without trace (idiom); to make one's getaway (from the scene of a crime)
to show a clean pair of heels

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

逃: táo · escape, flee; abscond, dodge
之: zhī · marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to
夭: yāo · young, fresh-looking; die young

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

2–1–1–1 · tao2 zhi1 yao1 yao1

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

3character 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.

逃之夭夭 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

tou4 zi1 jiu1 jiu1

Cantonese word readings for 逃之夭夭. 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.

verb

(humorous) to flee; to take to one's heels

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

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