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幼

Mandarin · pinyin yòu

young

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幼: yòu · infant, young child; immature

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

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Mandarin tones

4 · you4

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1character link26same-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 · 8 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

jau3

Cantonese word readings for 幼. 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, or in compounds) infant; young child
(literary, or in compounds) young
(literary, or in compounds) immature
(obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) to love; to take care of (the young)
(Cantonese, Southern Min, Eastern Min) thin; fine (not coarse)
(Southern Min, Eastern Min, of food) tender; soft
a surname

character

used in 幼眇 and 幼妙

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

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