CANTONESE ↔ ENGLISH · CC-CANTO

土

Cantonese · source Jyutpingtou2#

lame; old fashioned

Cantonese · source Jyutpingtou2#

earth
dust
clay
local
indigenous
crude opium
unsophisticated
one of the eight ancient musical instruments 八音
soil
land
native
indigenous
unfashionable
uncouth

About these definitions

Source definition segments, in their original order. Characters a definition cites are shown without their Mandarin pinyin; classifier lists that CC-Canto copied from CC-CEDICT are marked Mandarin. The community dictionary is not independently verified by zimai.

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Reading & tones

tou22 · high rising

Schematic citation-tone diagrams from the source numbers. These are not recordings or predictions of connected speech.

Same syllable, six tones

tou叨tou1to get the benefit of 土tou2earth 套tou3cover 图tou4diagram 肚tou5bellytou6—

Characters whose customary Unihan reading (kCantonese) is this syllable in each tone, chosen as in the tone atlas (2013 standard level, then the number of CC-CEDICT words they form), with CC-Canto 2017's meaning for that reading; a dash means no catalogue character has that reading. Checked syllables (-p, -t, -k) normally carry tones 1, 3 and 6. Character readings, not word readings; no frequency implied.

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Written characters

土

Both source spellings are represented. Written membership is not an etymological or semantic claim.

Cantonese characters and the Mandarin bridge ↗

Mandarin comparison · separate source entries

CC-CEDICT, the Mandarin–English dictionary, lists the same written form:

土 Tǔ CC-CEDICT · Mandarinsurname Tu; Tu ethnic group
土 tǔ CC-CEDICT · Mandarinearth; dust; clay; local; indigenous; crude opium; unsophisticated; one of the eight categories of ancient musical instruments 八音 bā yīn

A separate source entry, shown for comparison. The same characters can carry different senses in Mandarin and in Cantonese; zimai does not align these senses.

CC-Canto includes this pinyin reference: tu3. It does not establish a Mandarin word with the same meaning.

Look up this spelling in the Mandarin dictionary ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 18 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

tou2

Cantonese word readings for 土. 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 · Etymology 1

earth; soil
(dialectal) dust
land
earth, one of the five elements of Wu Xing (五行 (-))
earth, one of the five elements of Wu Xing (五行 (-)) — (Classical) short for 土曜日 (tǔyàorì): Saturday
crude opium
hometown; native place
local; native; indigenous
rustic; unsophisticated; uncouth; vulgar; tasteless; uncultured
indigenous; traditional and used by the common people
(～族) the Tu ethnic group; Monguor people; White Mongol
(abbreviation, alt-of) short for 土耳其 (Tǔ'ěrqí, “Turkey”)
(Hokkien) rude; boorish; rough; philistine
a surname

character · Etymology 2

(obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) alternative form of 杜 (dù, “root”)
(obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) an ancient river

character · Etymology 3

(obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) only used in 土苴 (chǎzhǎ)

character · Etymology 4

only used in 土門／土门 (Túmén)

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

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