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娘

Mandarin · pinyin niáng

mother
young lady
(coll.) effeminate

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娘: niáng · mother; young girl; woman; wife

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

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Mandarin tones

2 · niang2

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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 · 8 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

noeng4

Cantonese word readings for 娘. 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

woman, especially a young girl
(colloquial) mother; ma
(in compounds) wife of a particular person
elderly lady
(religion) "The Lady" (an epithet of the Fujianese sea goddess Mazu (媽祖 /妈祖 (Māzǔ))
(usually derogatory, of a man or a boy) girly; feminine; effeminate
(～母) (Chinese linguistics) the Middle Chinese initial of 娘 (MC nrjang)

character · Etymology 2

(Cantonese) old-fashioned

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

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