认 贼 作 父

rèn zéi zuò fùdictionary entry

lit. to acknowledge the bandit as one's father (idiom) / fig. a complete betrayal / to sell oneself to the enemy

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-0498854489348305. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

認賊作父 认贼作父 [ren4 zei2 zuo4 fu4] /lit. to acknowledge the bandit as one's father (idiom); fig. a complete betrayal/to sell oneself to the enemy/

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: 認賊作父

认
rèn
to recognize / to know / to admit
贼
zéi
thief / robber / (bound form) traitor / subversive / (bound form) evil / wicked / sly / shifty / devious / (literary) to harm / to injure / (coll.) extremely / insanely / damn (common in NE China and Taiwan)
作
zuō
(bound form) worker / (bound form) workshop / (slang) troublesome / high-maintenance (person)
zuò
to do / to engage in / to write / to compose / to pretend / to feign / to regard as / to consider to be / to be / to act the part of / to feel (itchy, nauseous etc) / writings / works
父
fù
(bound form) father / (bound form) male relative of father's generation (as in 伯父[bó fù]) / (computing) (bound form) parent-

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.