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留守

Mandarin · pinyin liú shǒu

to stay behind to take care of things

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Characters in this entry

留: liú · stop, halt; stay, detain, keep
守: shǒu · defend, protect, guard, conserve

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

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Mandarin tones

2–3 · liu2 shou3

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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 · 3 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

lau4 sau2

Cantonese word readings for 留守. 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

(historical) to act as the monarch during his absence from the capital
to stay behind; to remain for military duty while the main forces depart
to be left behind

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

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