彈琴

简 弹琴 · 繁 彈琴
Mandarin · pinyin tán qín

Meanings

  1. to play or strum a lute or other stringed instrument
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Characters in this entry

彈
Look up this written character
琴
qín · Chinese lute or guitar
弹
dàn · pellet, bullet, shot, shell
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

2–2 · tan2 qin2

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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.

彈琴 · find source passages ↗ · 弹琴 · find source passages ↗

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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

  1. (music) to play certain musical instruments that can be described as 琴 (qín), such as some stringed instruments (guzheng, guqin, etc.), or a keyboard instrument (piano, electric piano, accordion, pipe organ, etc.)

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

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