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牡丹

Mandarin · pinyin mǔ dan#

tree peony (Paeonia suffruticosa)

Mandarin · pinyin Mǔ dan#

see 牡丹區 Mǔ dan Qū

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Characters in this entry

牡: mǔ · male of animals; bolt of door
丹: dān · cinnabar (native HgS); vermilion (artificial HgS used as pigment)

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

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Mandarin tones

3–5 · mu3 dan5

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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 · 4 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

maau5 daan1

Cantonese word readings for 牡丹. 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

tree peony (Paeonia sect. Moutan)
(obsolete) marlberry

name

(～區) Mudan (a district of Heze, Shandong, China)
(～鄉) Mudan (a mountain indigenous township in Pingtung County, Taiwan)

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

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