坦承

Mandarin · pinyin tǎn chéng

Meanings

  1. to confess
  2. to admit
  3. to come clean
  4. calmly
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Characters in this entry

坦
tǎn · flat, smooth; self-possessed
承
chéng · inherit, receive; succeed
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

3–2 · tan3 cheng2

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2character links1same-tone record
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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.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

taan2 sing4

Cantonese word readings for 坦承. 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

  1. to (frankly) admit; to avow; to confess

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

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