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求偶

Mandarin · pinyin qiú ǒu

to seek a marriage partner
(of an animal) to seek a mate; to court

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Characters in this entry

求: qiú · seek; demand, request; beseech
偶: ǒu · accidentally, coincidently; an idol

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

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Mandarin tones

2–3 · qiu2 ou3

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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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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

kau4 ngau5

Cantonese word readings for 求偶. 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 seek a mate; to find a husband or wife; to court

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

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