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動武

简动武 · 繁動武

Mandarin · pinyin dòng wǔ

to use force
to come to blows

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Characters in this entry

動: dòng · move, happen; movement, action
武: wǔ · military; martial, warlike
动: dòng · move, happen; movement, action

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

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Mandarin tones

4–3 · dong4 wu3

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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.

動武 · find source passages ↗ · 动武 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

dung6 mou5

Cantonese word readings for 動武. 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.

verb

to use force (to fight, start a war, etc.)

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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