坑 is also the simplified spelling of 阬.
DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT
坑
Mandarin · pinyin kēng
Meanings
- pit; hollow; depression
- (mining) pit; shaft; tunnel
- (literary) to bury alive
- (coll.) to cheat; to scam; to screw over
Characters in this entry
- 坑
- kēng · pit, hole; bury, trap; harry
Explore the spelling
Mandarin tones
1 · keng1
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
Connected dictionary
1character link13same-tone records
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.
Compare dictionary sources Rime · Wiktionary
Rime Cantonese 粵拼
haang1
Cantonese word readings for 坑. 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.
character · Etymology 1
- pit; hole; hollow (Classifier: 個／个 m c)
- tunnel
- (dialectal, by extension) latrine; toilet
- to entrap; to cheat; to do a bad turn
- (by extension, neologism, Internet slang) fandom; media franchise
- (literary) to bury alive
- a surname
- (dialectal, including Cantonese) ditch; trench (Classifier: 條／条 c)
- (dialectal, including Cantonese, Hakka, Hokkien, Taishanese) valley; gully; ravine
- (Hakka) small stream; creek; brook (Classifier: 條／条 h)
character · Etymology 2
- (Cantonese, in compounds) man
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack