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引蛇出洞

yǐn shé chū dòngdictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
lit. to pull a snake from its hole / to expose a malefactor (idiom)
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-f7c42760ae62534d. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

引蛇出洞 引蛇出洞 [yin3 she2 chu1 dong4] /lit. to pull a snake from its hole/to expose a malefactor (idiom)/

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.

  • 引
    yǐn

    to draw (e.g. a bow) / to pull / to stretch sth / to extend / to lengthen / to involve or implicate in / to attract / to lead / to guide / to leave / to provide evidence or justification for / old unit of distance equal to 10 丈[zhàng], one-thirtieth of a km or 33.33 meters

  • 蛇
    shé

    snake / serpent / CL:條|条[tiáo]

    yí

    used in 委蛇[wēi yí]

  • 出
    chū

    to go out / to come out / to arise / to occur / to produce / to yield / to go beyond / to exceed / (used after a verb to indicate an outward direction or a positive result) / classifier for dramas, plays, operas etc

  • 洞
    dòng

    cave / hole / zero (unambiguous spoken form when spelling out numbers) / CL:個|个[gè]

    tóng

    used in 洪洞[Hóng tóng] (the name of a place in Shanxi)

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.