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雞鳴狗盜

简鸡鸣狗盗 · 繁雞鳴狗盜

Mandarin · pinyin jī míng gǒu dào

crowing like a cock and stealing like a dog (idiom)
bag of tricks
useful talents

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Characters in this entry

雞: jī · chickens; domestic fowl
鳴: Look up this written character
狗: gǒu · dog, Canis familiaris
盜: Look up this written character
鸡: jī · chicken
鸣: míng · cry of bird or animal; make sound
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

1–2–3–4 · ji1 ming2 gou3 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.

雞鳴狗盜 · find source passages ↗ · 鸡鸣狗盗 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 3 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

gai1 ming4 gau2 dou6

Cantonese word readings for 雞鳴狗盜. 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) lowly skills; skills of little worth
(idiomatic) people with lowly skills
(idiomatic) base and despicable

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

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