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開門揖盜

简开门揖盗 · 繁開門揖盜

Mandarin · pinyin kāi mén yī dào

leaving the door open invites the thief (idiom); to invite disaster by giving evildoers a free hand

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Characters in this entry

開: kāi · open; initiate, begin, start
門: mén · gate, door, entrance, opening; Kangxi radical 169
揖: yī · salute, bow; defer to, yield
盜: Look up this written character
开: kāi · open; initiate, begin, start
门: mén · gate, door, entrance, opening
盗: dào · rob, steal; thief, bandit

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

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Mandarin tones

1–2–1–4 · kai1 men2 yi1 dao4

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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.

開門揖盜 · find source passages ↗ · 开门揖盗 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

hoi1 mun4 jap1 dou6

Cantonese word readings for 開門揖盜. 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 introduce bad people and bring disaster upon oneself

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

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