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奶

Mandarin · pinyin nǎi

breast
milk
to breastfeed

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奶: nǎi · milk; woman's breasts; nurse

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

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Mandarin tones

3 · nai3

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1character link14same-tone records

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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 · 9 senses · 3 Cantonese readings

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

naai1 · naai4 · naai5

Cantonese word readings for 奶. 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

breast
milk; breast milk
(in compounds, colloquial, regional) short for 奶茶 (nǎichá, “milk tea”)
to nurse
to breastfeed; to suckle
(in compounds) infant; infantile; milk (teeth, name, etc.)
(regional) mother
(regional) grandmother

character · Etymology 2

(Hokkien) to behave in a coy, childish or coquettish manner; to coax; to wheedle

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

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