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鳥盡弓藏

简鸟尽弓藏 · 繁鳥盡弓藏

Mandarin · pinyin niǎo jìn gōng cáng

lit. the birds are over, the bow is put away (idiom); fig. to get rid of sb once he has served his purpose

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Characters in this entry

鳥: niǎo · bird; Kangxi radical 196
盡: Look up this written character
弓: gōng · bow; curved, arched; Kangxi radical 57
藏: cáng · hide, conceal; hoard, store up
鸟: niǎo · bird; Kangxi radical 196
尽: jǐn · exhaust, use up; deplete

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

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Mandarin tones

3–4–1–2 · niao3 jin4 gong1 cang2

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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.

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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.

proverb

to cast somebody or something aside when the purpose has been served

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

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