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金蟬脫殼

简金蝉脱壳 · 繁金蟬脫殼

Mandarin · pinyin jīn chán tuō qiào

lit. the cicada sheds its carapace (idiom); fig. to vanish leaving an empty shell
a crafty escape plan

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Characters in this entry

金: jīn · gold; metals in general; money; Kangxi radical 167
蟬: Look up this written character
脫: Look up this written character
殼: Look up this written character
蝉: chán · cicada; continuous
脱: tuō · take off
壳: ké · casing, shell, husk

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

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Mandarin tones

1–2–1–4 · jin1 chan2 tuo1 qiao4

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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.

金蟬脫殼 · find source passages ↗ · 金蝉脱壳 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

gam1 sim4 tyut3 hok3

Cantonese word readings for 金蟬脫殼. 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 be able to escape from a (normally sticky) situation without other pertinent parties noticing it

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

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