See 首鼠兩端 in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
{
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"english": "When the court session was over the Marquis of Wu’an left the palace and went to the gate where the carriages were drawn up. Calling to the imperial secretary Han Anguo to join him in his carriage, he began to berate him angrily. “You, Changru, and I together are pitted against a single, bald-headed old man [namely Dou Ying]! Why did you behave so timid in expressing your opinion, like a rat turning its head towards two directions at once?”",
"raw_tags": [
"Traditional Chinese poetry"
],
"ref": " The Records of the Grand Historian, by Sima Qian, c. 91 BCE",
"roman": "Wǔ'ān yǐ bàcháo, chū zhǐ chēmén, zhào Hán yùshǐdàfū zǎi, nù yuē: “Yǔ Chángrú gòng yī lǎo tū wēng, héwéi shǒushǔliǎngduān?”",
"tags": [
"Pinyin",
"Traditional-Chinese"
],
"text": "武安已罷朝，出止車門，召韓御史大夫載，怒曰：“與長孺共一老禿翁，何為首鼠兩端？”",
"translation": "When the court session was over the Marquis of Wu’an left the palace and went to the gate where the carriages were drawn up. Calling to the imperial secretary Han Anguo to join him in his carriage, he began to berate him angrily. “You, Changru, and I together are pitted against a single, bald-headed old man [namely Dou Ying]! Why did you behave so timid in expressing your opinion, like a rat turning its head towards two directions at once?”",
"type": "quote"
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[
384,
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]
],
"english": "When the court session was over the Marquis of Wu’an left the palace and went to the gate where the carriages were drawn up. Calling to the imperial secretary Han Anguo to join him in his carriage, he began to berate him angrily. “You, Changru, and I together are pitted against a single, bald-headed old man [namely Dou Ying]! Why did you behave so timid in expressing your opinion, like a rat turning its head towards two directions at once?”",
"raw_tags": [
"Traditional Chinese poetry"
],
"ref": " The Records of the Grand Historian, by Sima Qian, c. 91 BCE",
"roman": "Wǔ'ān yǐ bàcháo, chū zhǐ chēmén, zhào Hán yùshǐdàfū zǎi, nù yuē: “Yǔ Chángrú gòng yī lǎo tū wēng, héwéi shǒushǔliǎngduān?”",
"tags": [
"Pinyin",
"Simplified-Chinese"
],
"text": "武安已罢朝，出止车门，召韩御史大夫载，怒曰：“与长孺共一老秃翁，何为首鼠两端？”",
"translation": "When the court session was over the Marquis of Wu’an left the palace and went to the gate where the carriages were drawn up. Calling to the imperial secretary Han Anguo to join him in his carriage, he began to berate him angrily. “You, Changru, and I together are pitted against a single, bald-headed old man [namely Dou Ying]! Why did you behave so timid in expressing your opinion, like a rat turning its head towards two directions at once?”",
"type": "quote"
}
],
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{
"args": {
"1": "zh",
"2": "（《史記·魏其武安侯列傳》）"
},
"expansion": "（《史記·魏其武安侯列傳》）",
"name": "lang"
}
],
"etymology_text": "From Shiji（《史記·魏其武安侯列傳》）",
"forms": [
{
"form": "首鼠两端",
"tags": [
"Simplified-Chinese"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "zh",
"2": "idiom"
},
"expansion": "首鼠兩端",
"name": "head"
}
],
"lang": "Chinese",
"lang_code": "zh",
"pos": "phrase",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Cantonese chengyu",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Chinese chengyu",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Chinese entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Mandarin chengyu",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
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{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Middle Chinese chengyu",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
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{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Old Chinese chengyu",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
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{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with 1 entry",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with entries",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
}
],
"glosses": [
"to be hesitant or indecisive"
],
"id": "en-首鼠兩端-zh-phrase-4en59t4Z",
"links": [
[
"hesitant",
"hesitant"
],
[
"indecisive",
"indecisive"
]
],
"synonyms": [
{
"roman": "shǒushīliǎngduān",
"word": "首施兩端"
},
{
"roman": "shǒushīliǎngduān",
"word": "首施两端"
},
{
"roman": "shǒuwěiliǎngduān",
"word": "首尾兩端"
},
{
"roman": "shǒuwěiliǎngduān",
"word": "首尾两端"
}
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
],
"wikipedia": [
"Dou Ying",
"Shiji"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"tags": [
"Mandarin",
"Pinyin"
],
"zh_pron": "shǒushǔliǎngduān"
},
{
"tags": [
"Mandarin",
"Bopomofo"
],
"zh_pron": "ㄕㄡˇ ㄕㄨˇ ㄌㄧㄤˇ ㄉㄨㄢ"
},
{
"tags": [
"Cantonese",
"Jyutping"
],
"zh_pron": "sau² syu² loeng⁵ dyun¹"
},
{
"tags": [
"Mandarin",
"Standard-Chinese",
"Pinyin"
],
"zh_pron": "shǒushǔliǎngduān"
},
{
"tags": [
"Mandarin",
"Standard-Chinese",
"Pinyin",
"phonetic"
],
"zh_pron": "shóushúliǎngduān"
},
{
"tags": [
"Mandarin",
"Standard-Chinese",
"Bopomofo"
],
"zh_pron": "ㄕㄡˇ ㄕㄨˇ ㄌㄧㄤˇ ㄉㄨㄢ"
},
{
"tags": [
"Mandarin",
"Standard-Chinese",
"Tongyong-Pinyin"
],
"zh_pron": "shǒushǔliǎngduan"
},
{
"tags": [
"Mandarin",
"Standard-Chinese",
"Wade-Giles"
],
"zh_pron": "shou³-shu³-liang³-tuan¹"
},
{
"tags": [
"Mandarin",
"Standard-Chinese",
"Yale"
],
"zh_pron": "shǒu-shǔ-lyǎng-dwān"
},
{
"tags": [
"Mandarin",
"Standard-Chinese",
"Gwoyeu-Romatsyh"
],
"zh_pron": "shooushuuleangduan"
},
{
"roman": "šoušuljanduanʹ",
"tags": [
"Mandarin",
"Standard-Chinese",
"Palladius"
],
"zh_pron": "шоушуляндуань"
},
{
"ipa": "/ʂoʊ̯²¹⁴⁻³⁵ ʂu²¹⁴⁻³⁵ li̯ɑŋ²¹⁴⁻²¹ tu̯än⁵⁵/",
"tags": [
"Mandarin",
"Standard-Chinese",
"Sinological-IPA"
]
},
{
"raw_tags": [
"Standard-Cantonese",
"Hong Kong"
],
"tags": [
"Cantonese",
"Guangzhou",
"Jyutping"
],
"zh_pron": "sau² syu² loeng⁵ dyun¹"
},
{
"raw_tags": [
"Standard-Cantonese",
"Hong Kong"
],
"tags": [
"Cantonese",
"Guangzhou",
"Yale"
],
"zh_pron": "sáu syú léuhng dyūn"
},
{
"raw_tags": [
"Standard-Cantonese",
"Hong Kong"
],
"tags": [
"Cantonese",
"Guangzhou",
"Cantonese",
"Pinyin"
],
"zh_pron": "sau² sy² loeng⁵ dyn¹"
},
{
"raw_tags": [
"Standard-Cantonese",
"Hong Kong"
],
"tags": [
"Cantonese",
"Guangzhou",
"Guangdong-Romanization"
],
"zh_pron": "seo² xu² lêng⁵ dün¹"
},
{
"ipa": "/sɐu̯³⁵ syː³⁵ lœːŋ¹³ tyːn⁵⁵/",
"raw_tags": [
"Standard-Cantonese",
"Hong Kong"
],
"tags": [
"Cantonese",
"Guangzhou",
"Sinological-IPA"
]
},
{
"tags": [
"Middle-Chinese"
],
"zh_pron": "syuwH syoX ljangX twan"
},
{
"tags": [
"Old-Chinese",
"Baxter-Sagart"
],
"zh_pron": "/*l̥uʔ-s [l̥]aʔ p.raŋʔ tˤor/"
},
{
"tags": [
"Old-Chinese",
"Zhengzhang"
],
"zh_pron": "/*hljus hljaʔ raŋʔ toːn/"
}
],
"word": "首鼠兩端"
}
{
"etymology_examples": [
{
"bold_roman_offsets": [
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],
"english": "When the court session was over the Marquis of Wu’an left the palace and went to the gate where the carriages were drawn up. Calling to the imperial secretary Han Anguo to join him in his carriage, he began to berate him angrily. “You, Changru, and I together are pitted against a single, bald-headed old man [namely Dou Ying]! Why did you behave so timid in expressing your opinion, like a rat turning its head towards two directions at once?”",
"raw_tags": [
"Traditional Chinese poetry"
],
"ref": " The Records of the Grand Historian, by Sima Qian, c. 91 BCE",
"roman": "Wǔ'ān yǐ bàcháo, chū zhǐ chēmén, zhào Hán yùshǐdàfū zǎi, nù yuē: “Yǔ Chángrú gòng yī lǎo tū wēng, héwéi shǒushǔliǎngduān?”",
"tags": [
"Pinyin",
"Traditional-Chinese"
],
"text": "武安已罷朝，出止車門，召韓御史大夫載，怒曰：“與長孺共一老禿翁，何為首鼠兩端？”",
"translation": "When the court session was over the Marquis of Wu’an left the palace and went to the gate where the carriages were drawn up. Calling to the imperial secretary Han Anguo to join him in his carriage, he began to berate him angrily. “You, Changru, and I together are pitted against a single, bald-headed old man [namely Dou Ying]! Why did you behave so timid in expressing your opinion, like a rat turning its head towards two directions at once?”",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"bold_roman_offsets": [
[
104,
120
]
],
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
34,
38
]
],
"bold_translation_offsets": [
[
384,
442
]
],
"english": "When the court session was over the Marquis of Wu’an left the palace and went to the gate where the carriages were drawn up. Calling to the imperial secretary Han Anguo to join him in his carriage, he began to berate him angrily. “You, Changru, and I together are pitted against a single, bald-headed old man [namely Dou Ying]! Why did you behave so timid in expressing your opinion, like a rat turning its head towards two directions at once?”",
"raw_tags": [
"Traditional Chinese poetry"
],
"ref": " The Records of the Grand Historian, by Sima Qian, c. 91 BCE",
"roman": "Wǔ'ān yǐ bàcháo, chū zhǐ chēmén, zhào Hán yùshǐdàfū zǎi, nù yuē: “Yǔ Chángrú gòng yī lǎo tū wēng, héwéi shǒushǔliǎngduān?”",
"tags": [
"Pinyin",
"Simplified-Chinese"
],
"text": "武安已罢朝，出止车门，召韩御史大夫载，怒曰：“与长孺共一老秃翁，何为首鼠两端？”",
"translation": "When the court session was over the Marquis of Wu’an left the palace and went to the gate where the carriages were drawn up. Calling to the imperial secretary Han Anguo to join him in his carriage, he began to berate him angrily. “You, Changru, and I together are pitted against a single, bald-headed old man [namely Dou Ying]! Why did you behave so timid in expressing your opinion, like a rat turning its head towards two directions at once?”",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "zh",
"2": "（《史記·魏其武安侯列傳》）"
},
"expansion": "（《史記·魏其武安侯列傳》）",
"name": "lang"
}
],
"etymology_text": "From Shiji（《史記·魏其武安侯列傳》）",
"forms": [
{
"form": "首鼠两端",
"tags": [
"Simplified-Chinese"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "zh",
"2": "idiom"
},
"expansion": "首鼠兩端",
"name": "head"
}
],
"lang": "Chinese",
"lang_code": "zh",
"pos": "phrase",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"Cantonese chengyu",
"Cantonese idioms",
"Cantonese lemmas",
"Chinese chengyu",
"Chinese entries with incorrect language header",
"Chinese idioms",
"Chinese lemmas",
"Chinese terms spelled with 兩",
"Chinese terms spelled with 端",
"Chinese terms spelled with 首",
"Chinese terms spelled with 鼠",
"Chinese terms with IPA pronunciation",
"Mandarin chengyu",
"Mandarin idioms",
"Mandarin lemmas",
"Middle Chinese chengyu",
"Middle Chinese idioms",
"Middle Chinese lemmas",
"Old Chinese chengyu",
"Old Chinese idioms",
"Old Chinese lemmas",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries"
],
"glosses": [
"to be hesitant or indecisive"
],
"links": [
[
"hesitant",
"hesitant"
],
[
"indecisive",
"indecisive"
]
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
],
"wikipedia": [
"Dou Ying",
"Shiji"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"tags": [
"Mandarin",
"Pinyin"
],
"zh_pron": "shǒushǔliǎngduān"
},
{
"tags": [
"Mandarin",
"Bopomofo"
],
"zh_pron": "ㄕㄡˇ ㄕㄨˇ ㄌㄧㄤˇ ㄉㄨㄢ"
},
{
"tags": [
"Cantonese",
"Jyutping"
],
"zh_pron": "sau² syu² loeng⁵ dyun¹"
},
{
"tags": [
"Mandarin",
"Standard-Chinese",
"Pinyin"
],
"zh_pron": "shǒushǔliǎngduān"
},
{
"tags": [
"Mandarin",
"Standard-Chinese",
"Pinyin",
"phonetic"
],
"zh_pron": "shóushúliǎngduān"
},
{
"tags": [
"Mandarin",
"Standard-Chinese",
"Bopomofo"
],
"zh_pron": "ㄕㄡˇ ㄕㄨˇ ㄌㄧㄤˇ ㄉㄨㄢ"
},
{
"tags": [
"Mandarin",
"Standard-Chinese",
"Tongyong-Pinyin"
],
"zh_pron": "shǒushǔliǎngduan"
},
{
"tags": [
"Mandarin",
"Standard-Chinese",
"Wade-Giles"
],
"zh_pron": "shou³-shu³-liang³-tuan¹"
},
{
"tags": [
"Mandarin",
"Standard-Chinese",
"Yale"
],
"zh_pron": "shǒu-shǔ-lyǎng-dwān"
},
{
"tags": [
"Mandarin",
"Standard-Chinese",
"Gwoyeu-Romatsyh"
],
"zh_pron": "shooushuuleangduan"
},
{
"roman": "šoušuljanduanʹ",
"tags": [
"Mandarin",
"Standard-Chinese",
"Palladius"
],
"zh_pron": "шоушуляндуань"
},
{
"ipa": "/ʂoʊ̯²¹⁴⁻³⁵ ʂu²¹⁴⁻³⁵ li̯ɑŋ²¹⁴⁻²¹ tu̯än⁵⁵/",
"tags": [
"Mandarin",
"Standard-Chinese",
"Sinological-IPA"
]
},
{
"raw_tags": [
"Standard-Cantonese",
"Hong Kong"
],
"tags": [
"Cantonese",
"Guangzhou",
"Jyutping"
],
"zh_pron": "sau² syu² loeng⁵ dyun¹"
},
{
"raw_tags": [
"Standard-Cantonese",
"Hong Kong"
],
"tags": [
"Cantonese",
"Guangzhou",
"Yale"
],
"zh_pron": "sáu syú léuhng dyūn"
},
{
"raw_tags": [
"Standard-Cantonese",
"Hong Kong"
],
"tags": [
"Cantonese",
"Guangzhou",
"Cantonese",
"Pinyin"
],
"zh_pron": "sau² sy² loeng⁵ dyn¹"
},
{
"raw_tags": [
"Standard-Cantonese",
"Hong Kong"
],
"tags": [
"Cantonese",
"Guangzhou",
"Guangdong-Romanization"
],
"zh_pron": "seo² xu² lêng⁵ dün¹"
},
{
"ipa": "/sɐu̯³⁵ syː³⁵ lœːŋ¹³ tyːn⁵⁵/",
"raw_tags": [
"Standard-Cantonese",
"Hong Kong"
],
"tags": [
"Cantonese",
"Guangzhou",
"Sinological-IPA"
]
},
{
"tags": [
"Middle-Chinese"
],
"zh_pron": "syuwH syoX ljangX twan"
},
{
"tags": [
"Old-Chinese",
"Baxter-Sagart"
],
"zh_pron": "/*l̥uʔ-s [l̥]aʔ p.raŋʔ tˤor/"
},
{
"tags": [
"Old-Chinese",
"Zhengzhang"
],
"zh_pron": "/*hljus hljaʔ raŋʔ toːn/"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"roman": "shǒushīliǎngduān",
"word": "首施兩端"
},
{
"roman": "shǒushīliǎngduān",
"word": "首施两端"
},
{
"roman": "shǒuwěiliǎngduān",
"word": "首尾兩端"
},
{
"roman": "shǒuwěiliǎngduān",
"word": "首尾两端"
}
],
"word": "首鼠兩端"
}
Download raw JSONL data for 首鼠兩端 meaning in Chinese (6.6kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable Chinese dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-09-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-08-23 using wiktextract (20da82b and a97feda). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.