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鸚鵡學舌

简鹦鹉学舌 · 繁鸚鵡學舌

Mandarin · pinyin yīng wǔ xué shé

to parrot
to repeat uncritically what sb says

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Characters in this entry

鸚: Look up this written character
鵡: Look up this written character
學: xué · learning, knowledge; school
舌: shé · tongue; clapper of bell; Kangxi radical 135
鹦: yīng · parrot
鹉: wǔ · species of parrot
学: xué · learning, knowledge; school

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

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Mandarin tones

1–3–2–2 · ying1 wu3 xue2 she2

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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.

鸚鵡學舌 · find source passages ↗ · 鹦鹉学舌 · find source passages ↗

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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 repeat the words of others like a parrot; to parrot

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

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