猫腻 (māonì): shady dealings

Meanings

1 shady dealings
2 something fishy
3 hidden tricks
4 shenanigans

Characters

猫

greasy / sticky / tiresome

Examples

这件事里面肯定有猫腻。

Zhè jiàn shì lǐmiàn kěndìng yǒu māonì.

There's definitely something fishy going on here.

他们的合同里藏着不少猫腻。

Tāmen de hétong lǐ cáng zhe bùshǎo māonì.

Their contract conceals quite a few shady tricks.

Tips

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猫腻 is colloquial and informal. It refers to underhanded or sneaky behavior, particularly hidden scheming or cheating. Equivalent to English 'something fishy' or 'funny business'. Often used in the pattern 里面有猫腻 (there's something shady going on).