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Chinese/Dictionary entry

葫芦里卖的是什么药

hú lu lǐ mài de shì shén me yàodictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
what has (he) got up (his) sleeve? / what's going on?
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-0cfd962994530218. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

葫蘆裡賣的是什麼藥 葫芦里卖的是什么药 [hu2 lu5 li3 mai4 de5 shi4 shen2 me5 yao4] /what has (he) got up (his) sleeve?/what's going on?/

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: 葫蘆裡賣的是什麼藥

  • 葫
    hú

    used in 葫蘆|葫芦[hú lu]

  • 芦
    lú

    (bound form) reed

  • 里
    lǐ

    lining / interior / inside / internal / also written 裏|里[lǐ] / li, ancient measure of length, approx. 500 m / neighborhood / ancient administrative unit of 25 families / (Tw) borough, administrative unit between the township 鎮|镇[zhèn] and neighborhood 鄰|邻[lín] levels

    Lǐ

    surname Li

  • 卖
    mài

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

  • 的
    de

    of / ~'s (possessive particle) / (used after an attribute when it modifies a noun) / (used at the end of a declarative sentence for emphasis) / (used after a noun, verb or adjective to form a nominal expression, as in 皮革的[pí gé de] "one made of leather" or 跑堂兒的|跑堂儿的[pǎo táng r de] "a waiter (literally, one who runs back and forth in a restaurant)" or 新的[xīn de] "new one") / also pr. [dì] or [di] in poetry and songs

    dī

    (bound form) a taxi / a cab (abbr. for 的士[dī shì])

    dí

    really and truly

    dì

    (bound form) bull's-eye / target

  • 是
    shì

    to be (followed by substantives only) / correct / right / true / (respectful acknowledgement of a command) very well / (adverb for emphatic assertion)

  • 什
    shén

    what

    shí

    ten (used in fractions, writing checks etc) / assorted / miscellaneous

  • 么
    yāo

    youngest / most junior / tiny / one (unambiguous spoken form when spelling out numbers, esp. on telephone or in military) / one or ace on dice or dominoes / variant of 吆[yāo], to shout

    má

    exclamatory final particle

    ma

    interrogative final particle

    me

    suffix, used to form interrogative 什麼|什么[shén me], what?, indefinite 這麼|这么[zhè me] thus, etc

    Yāo

    surname Yao

  • 药
    yào

    leaf of the iris / medicine / drug / substance used for a specific purpose (e.g. poisoning, explosion, fermenting) / CL:種|种[zhǒng],服[fù],味[wèi] / to poison

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.