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讨好卖乖

tǎo hǎo mài guāidictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
to curry favor by showing obeisance (idiom)
Sources & editorial notes

Reference definitions: CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source release 2026-10-27T01:55:52Z. Imported 2026-10-27. Definition wording and meaning order are retained. Recognized pronunciation references are displayed with tone marks; the original source record is available below.

Source record: cd-02cb3eb34606903b. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

討好賣乖 讨好卖乖 [tao3 hao3 mai4 guai1] /to curry favor by showing obeisance (idiom)/

Reference definitions and teaching material have separate provenance.

Reference information

The definitions above are from CC-CEDICT. Examples and usage notes are available on selected entries.

Character information

View the individual characters. Their meanings do not necessarily explain the meaning of the whole word.

Other forms in these source records: 討好賣乖

  • 讨
    tǎo

    to invite / to provoke / to demand or ask for / to send armed forces to suppress / to denounce or condemn / to marry (a woman) / to discuss or study

  • 好
    hǎo

    good / appropriate / proper / all right! / (before a verb) easy to / (before a verb) good to / (before an adjective for exclamatory effect) so / (verb complement indicating completion) / (of two people) close / on intimate terms / (after a form of address) hello

    hào

    to be fond of / to have a tendency to / to be prone to

  • 卖
    mài

    to sell / to betray / to spare no effort / to show off or flaunt

  • 乖
    guāi

    (of a child) obedient, well-behaved / clever / shrewd / alert / perverse / contrary to reason / irregular / abnormal

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.