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老鼠拖木锨，大头在后头

lǎo shǔ tuō mù xiān , dà tóu zài hòu toudictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
when the mice drag a shovel, the biggest thing comes second / the tip of the iceberg / the cockroach principle
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-99b96e628f7c926c. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

老鼠拖木鍁，大頭在後頭 老鼠拖木锨，大头在后头 [lao3 shu3 tuo1 mu4 xian1 , da4 tou2 zai4 hou4 tou5] /when the mice drag a shovel, the biggest thing comes second/the tip of the iceberg/the cockroach principle/

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: 老鼠拖木鍁，大頭在後頭

  • 老
    lǎo

    prefix used before the surname of a person or a numeral indicating the order of birth of the children in a family or to indicate affection or familiarity / old (of people) / venerable (person) / experienced / of long standing / always / all the time / of the past / very / outdated / (of meat etc) tough

  • 鼠
    shǔ

    (bound form) rat / mouse

  • 拖
    tuō

    to drag / to tow / to trail / to hang down / to mop (the floor) / to delay / to drag on

  • 木
    mù

    (bound form) tree / (bound form) wood / unresponsive / numb / wooden

    Mù

    surname Mu

  • 锨
    xiān

    shovel

  • 大
    dà

    big / large / great / older (than another person) / eldest (as in 大姐[dà jiě]) / greatly / freely / fully / (dialect) father / (dialect) uncle (father's brother)

    dài

    see 大夫[dài fu]

  • 头
    tóu

    head / hair style / the top / end / beginning or end / a stub / remnant / chief / boss / side / aspect / first / leading / classifier for pigs or livestock / CL:個|个[gè]

    tou

    suffix for nouns

  • 在
    zài

    to exist / to be alive / (of sb or sth) to be (located) at / (used before a verb to indicate an action in progress)

  • 后
    hòu

    empress / queen / (archaic) monarch / ruler / back / behind / rear / afterwards / after / later / post-

    Hòu

    surname Hou

  • 头
    tóu

    head / hair style / the top / end / beginning or end / a stub / remnant / chief / boss / side / aspect / first / leading / classifier for pigs or livestock / CL:個|个[gè]

    tou

    suffix for nouns

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.