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甲子

Mandarin · pinyin jiǎ zǐ

first year of the sixty-year cycle (where each year is numbered with one of the 10 heavenly stems 天干 tiān gān and one of the 12 earthly branches 地支 dì zhī)
the sixty-year cycle

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Characters in this entry

甲: jiǎ · armor, shell; fingernails; 1st heavenly stem
子: zǐ · offspring, child; fruit, seed of; first earthly branch

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

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Mandarin tones

3–3 · jia3 zi3

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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

gaap3 zi2

Cantonese word readings for 甲子. 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

The first term of the Chinese sexagenary cycle, sometimes glossed as "Wood Rat" from its associated terms in the Chinese elements and zodiac.
A full or completed set of the sexagenary cycle.

name

(～鎮) Jiazi (a town in Lufeng, Shanwei, Guangdong, China)
(～鎮) Jiazi (a town in Qiongshan district, Haikou, Hainan, China)

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

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