DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

名堂

Mandarin · pinyin míng tang

item (in a program of entertainments)
trick (act of mischief)
worthwhile result
accomplishment
sth significant but not immediately apparent
sth more than meets the eye

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

名: míng · name, rank, title, position
堂: táng · hall; government office

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

2–5 · ming2 tang5

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

2character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

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.

名堂 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 6 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

ming4 tong4

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

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

noun

variety; kind; item
outcome; result; achievement
reason; cause; what lies behind something
trick (act of mischief); ploy
name (of an object); designation
(Wenzhounese) thing; object

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

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