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挑灯拨火

tiǎo dēng bō huǒdictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
to sow discord / to provoke
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-c656110816b062ab. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

挑燈撥火 挑灯拨火 [tiao3 deng1 bo1 huo3] /to sow discord/to provoke/

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: 挑燈撥火

  • 挑
    tiāo

    to carry on a shoulder pole / to choose / to pick / to nitpick

    tiǎo

    to raise / to dig up / to poke / to prick / to incite / to stir up

  • 灯
    dēng

    lamp / light / lantern / CL:盞|盏[zhǎn]

  • 拨
    bō

    to push aside with the hand, foot, a stick etc / to dial / to allocate / to set aside (money) / to poke (the fire) / to pluck (a string instrument) / to turn round / classifier: group, batch

  • 火
    huǒ

    fire / urgent / ammunition / fiery or flaming / internal heat (Chinese medicine) / hot (popular) / classifier for military units (old) / Kangxi radical 86

    Huǒ

    surname Huo

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.