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拿捏

Mandarin · pinyin ná niē

(lit. and fig.) to grasp; to control
(dialect) affecting shyness; coy
(dialect) to deliberately create difficulties; to threaten

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Characters in this entry

拿: ná · take, hold, grasp; bring; with
捏: niē · pick with fingers; knead; mold

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

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Mandarin tones

2–1 · na2 nie1

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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

naa6 nip6

Cantonese word readings for 拿捏. 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 grasp; to control; to weigh
(dialectal) to deliberately make things difficult; to threaten

adj

(dialectal) coy; affecting shyness

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

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