枯萎

Mandarin · pinyin kū wěi

Meanings

  1. to wilt
  2. to wither
  3. wilted
  4. withered
  5. drained
  6. enervated
  7. exhausted
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Characters in this entry

枯
kū · dried out, withered, decayed
萎
wěi · wēi · wither, wilt
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1–3 · ku1 wei3

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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 · 4 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

fu1 wai2

Cantonese word readings for 枯萎. 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.

adj

  1. withered; shrivelled; wilted
  2. degenerated; retrogressed; retrograded

verb

  1. to wither; to shrivel; to wilt
  2. to degenerate; to retrogress; to retrograde

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack