看看

Mandarin · pinyin kàn kan

Meanings

  1. to take a look at
  2. to examine
  3. to survey
  4. (coll.) pretty soon
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Characters in this entry

看
kàn · look, see; examine, scrutinize
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–5 · kan4 kan5

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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 · 7 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

hon3 hon3

Cantonese word readings for 看看. 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

  1. to glance at; to take a quick look at; to have a look-see; to thumb through (a book, etc.)
  2. to examine and survey; to see
  3. to visit; to call on
  4. to see the sights

adv

  1. placed after a verb or a verb phrase to indicate a trial, interchangeable with 看一下.
  2. (literary) gradually
  3. (colloquial) pretty soon

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack