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作

Mandarin · pinyin zuō#

(bound form) worker
(bound form) workshop
(slang) troublesome; high-maintenance (person)

Mandarin · pinyin zuò#

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作: zuò · make; work; compose, write; act, perform

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1 · zuo1

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 23 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

zok3

Cantonese word readings for 作. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

character

(obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) to get up (from a place)
(obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) to get up (in the morning) and go to work
(obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) to begin to grow; to come into being
(obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) to arise; to come about; to happen; to occur; to break out
to do; to perform; to carry out
to work; to exert oneself
to make; to manufacture
to compose; to write
(obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) to brace oneself; to boost
(obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) to feign; to pretend
to work as; to serve as
(obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) to build; to construct
(obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) to play; to perform
(obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) to emit; to give out
(obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) to start; to launch
(obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) to be like; similar
(obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) alternative form of 詛 /诅 (zǔ, “to curse; to damn”)
work; composition; article
(obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) affair; matter
(obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) measure; action
(Hokkien) to farm; to plow; to till

character

workshop; studio; workroom
(neologism, originally dialectal) contrived; artificial; affected; pretentious; dramatic; high-maintenance

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