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媼

简媪 · 繁媼

Mandarin · pinyin ǎo

old woman

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Characters in this entry

媼: Look up this written character
媪: ǎo · old woman; lower-class woman

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

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Mandarin tones

3 · ao3

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1character link5same-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.

媼 · find source passages ↗ · 媪 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 3 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

ou2

Cantonese word readings for 媼. 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

(literary) old woman
(literary) woman, matriarch, matron
(literary, archaic) contraction of 媼神 /媪神 (ǎoshén), also known as the earth goddess Houtu

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

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