DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

反哺

Mandarin · pinyin fǎn bǔ

to support one's parents in their old age
to show filial piety
to to repay
to return a favor

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Characters in this entry

反: fǎn · reverse, opposite, contrary, anti
哺: bǔ · chew food; feed

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

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Mandarin tones

3–3 · fan3 bu3

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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 · 2 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

faan2 bou6

Cantonese word readings for 反哺. 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 take care of one's parents when they are old; to show filial piety
to give back to a person or institution which has contributed to one's own growth

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack