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沉潭

Mandarin · pinyin chén tán

to sink sb to the bottom of a pond (a kind of private punishment, especially for unfaithful wives)

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Characters in this entry

沉: chén · sink, submerge; addicted to
潭: tán · deep pool, lake; deep, profound

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Mandarin tones

2–2 · chen2 tan2

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

cam4 taam4

Cantonese word readings for 沉潭. 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

(historical) to tie someone to a rock and drown them (as a torture in ancient China)

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

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