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潦

Mandarin · pinyin lǎo#

flooded
heavy rain

Mandarin · pinyin liáo#

used in 潦草 liáo cǎo
used in 潦倒 liáo dǎo

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Characters in this entry

潦: liáo · to flood; a puddle; without care

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

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Mandarin tones

3 · lao3

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1character link15same-tone records

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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 · 10 senses · 5 Cantonese readings

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

liu2 · liu4 · liu5 · lou5 · lou6

Cantonese word readings for 潦. 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.

character

used in 潦倒 (liáodǎo) and 潦草 (liáocǎo)
(alt-of, alternative) alternative form of 燎 (“to burn; to scald”)
(Cantonese, of handwriting) messy; illegible
(Cantonese) to scribble

character

heavy rain
(of rain) heavy; torrential
puddle; accumulated water

character

flooded; inundated
flooding
to flood

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

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