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火柴

Mandarin · pinyin huǒ chái

match (for lighting fire)
Classifier: 根 gēn, 盒 hé

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Characters in this entry

火: huǒ · fire, flame; burn; anger, rage
柴: chái · firewood, faggots, fuel

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

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Mandarin tones

3–2 · huo3 chai2

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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

fo2 caai4

Cantonese word readings for 火柴. 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.

noun

match (for lighting candles, cigars, etc.) (Classifier: 根 m; 枝 c)

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

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