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沉默

Mandarin · pinyin chén mò

taciturn
uncommunicative
silent

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Characters in this entry

沉: chén · sink, submerge; addicted to
默: mò · silent; quiet, still; dark

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

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Mandarin tones

2–4 · chen2 mo4

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2character links1same-tone record

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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 · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

cam4 mak6

Cantonese word readings for 沉默. 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 be silent; to not speak; to be reticent; to be taciturn; to be untalkative

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

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