醜話說在前頭

简 丑话说在前头 · 繁 醜話說在前頭
Mandarin · pinyin chǒu huà shuō zài qián tou

Meanings

  1. let's talk about the unpleasant things first; let's be frank
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Characters in this entry

醜
Look up this written character
話
huà · speech, talk, language; dialect
說
shuō · speak, say, talk; scold, upbraid
在
zài · be at, in, on; consist in, rest
前
qián · in front, forward; preceding
頭
tóu · head; top; chief, first; boss
丑
chǒu · clown, comedian; second earthly branch
话
huà · speech, talk, language; dialect
说
shuō · speak, say, talk; scold, upbraid
头
tóu · head; top; chief, first; boss
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

3–4–1–4–2–5 · chou3 hua4 shuo1 zai4 qian2 tou5

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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.

醜話說在前頭 · find source passages ↗ · 丑话说在前头 · find source passages ↗

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醜話說在前頭 · chou3 hua4 shuo1 zai4 qian2 tou5
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 110,616
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record醜話說在前頭 丑话说在前头 [chou3 hua4 shuo1 zai4 qian2 tou5] /let's talk about the unpleasant things first; let's be frank/