DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT
秀
Mandarin · pinyin xiù
Meanings
- (bound form) refined; elegant; graceful; beautiful
- (bound form) superior; excellent
- (loanword) show (as in 時裝秀 shí zhuāng xiù)
- (loanword) to show off; to flaunt (as in 秀廚藝 xiù chú yì)
- (literary) to grow; to bloom; (of grain crops) to produce ears
Characters in this entry
- 秀
- xiù · ear of grain; flowering, luxuriant; refined, elegant, graceful
Explore the spelling
Mandarin tones
4 · xiu4
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
Connected dictionary
1character link24same-tone records1source reference
Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.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.
Compare dictionary sources Rime · Wiktionary
Rime Cantonese 粵拼
sau3
Cantonese word readings for 秀. 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.
character · Etymology 1
- (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese, of plants, especially of crops) to shoot out into ears; earing; ear
- (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese, of plants) to bear fruit
- (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese, of plants) to blossom
- beautiful; elegant; graceful
- (especially of a person) outstanding; prominent; extraordinary
character · Etymology 2
- to manifest; to show; to display
- show
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack