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馬首是瞻

简马首是瞻 · 繁馬首是瞻

Mandarin · pinyin mǎ shǒu shì zhān

to follow blindly (idiom)
to take as one's only guide

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Characters in this entry

馬: Look up this written character
首: shǒu · head; first; leader, chief; a poem; Kangxi radical 185
是: shì · indeed, yes, right; to be; demonstrative pronoun, this, that
瞻: zhān · look; look out for; respect
马: mǎ · horse; surname; Kangxi radical 187

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

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Mandarin tones

3–3–4–1 · ma3 shou3 shi4 zhan1

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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.

馬首是瞻 · find source passages ↗ · 马首是瞻 · find source passages ↗

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

maa5 sau2 si6 zim1

Cantonese word readings for 馬首是瞻. 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 regard someone as the leader and follow his or her orders

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

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