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差使

Mandarin · pinyin chāi shǐ#

to send
to assign
to appoint
servants of an official
official messenger

Mandarin · pinyin chāi shi#

official post
billet
commission
Classifier: 件 jiàn
see also 差事 chāi shi

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Characters in this entry

差: chà · chā · to differ; different, wrong; nearly, almost; an officer
使: shǐ · cause, send on a mission, order; envoy, messenger, ambassador

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

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Mandarin tones

1–3 · chai1 shi3

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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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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

caai1 sai2

Cantonese word readings for 差使. 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

to dispatch; to order about

noun

errand; assignment; commission (Classifier: 件)
job; post; position (Classifier: 件)
(literary, historical) official post; temporarily appointed position
(literary, historical) messenger; emissary
(literary, historical) criminal

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

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