The New Dictionary.
Search dictionary
Chinese/Dictionary entry

话里套话

huà lǐ tào huàdictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
to use seemingly innocent conversation topics as a pretext to glean information / to touch upon other matters not central to the topic being discussed
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-3cca8e7cadf54dd4. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

話裡套話 话里套话 [hua4 li3 tao4 hua4] /to use seemingly innocent conversation topics as a pretext to glean information/to touch upon other matters not central to the topic being discussed/

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: 話裡套話

  • 话
    huà

    dialect / language / spoken words / speech / talk / words / conversation / what sb said / CL:種|种[zhǒng],席[xí],句[jù],口[kǒu],番[fān]

  • 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

  • 套
    tào

    to cover / to encase / cover / sheath / to overlap / to interleave / to model after / to copy / formula / harness / loop of rope / (fig.) to fish for / to obtain slyly / classifier for sets, collections / bend (of a river or mountain range, in place names) / tau (Greek letter Ττ)

  • 话
    huà

    dialect / language / spoken words / speech / talk / words / conversation / what sb said / CL:種|种[zhǒng],席[xí],句[jù],口[kǒu],番[fān]

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.