寒暄

Mandarin · pinyin hán xuān

Meanings

  1. to exchange conventional greetings; to exchange pleasantries
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Characters in this entry

寒
hán · cold, wintry, chilly
暄
xuān · warm, comfortable; warm, genial
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

2–1 · han2 xuan1

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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 · 4 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

hon4 hyun1

Cantonese word readings for 寒暄. 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.

noun

  1. (literary) cold and warm
  2. (literary, figurative) cold and warm seasons; years

verb

  1. (literary) to enquire about another person's well-being (i.e. to inquire if they are feeling cold or warm)
  2. (now often) to exchange pleasantries; to make small talk; to exchange greetings

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

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