抓周

Mandarin · pinyin zhuā zhōu

Meanings

  1. custom of placing a variety of articles (writing brush, abacus etc) before an infant on its first birthday to see which one he or she picks up (The article chosen is supposed to be an indication of the child's inclinations, future career etc.)
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Characters in this entry

抓
zhuā · scratch; clutch, seize, grab
周
zhōu · Zhou dynasty; circumference
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1–1 · zhua1 zhou1

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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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抓周 · zhua1 zhou1
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 45,478
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record抓周 抓周 [zhua1 zhou1] /custom of placing a variety of articles (writing brush, abacus etc) before an infant on its first birthday to see which one he or she picks up (The article chosen is supposed to be an indication of the child's inclinations, future career etc.)/