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窈窕

Mandarin · pinyin yǎo tiǎo

(literary) (of a woman) graceful and refined; comely; (esp.) slender; slim
(literary) (of a bower, a mountain stream or a boudoir within a palace etc) secluded

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Characters in this entry

窈: yǎo · obscure, secluded; refined
窕: tiǎo · slender; quiet and modest, charming

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

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Mandarin tones

3–3 · yao3 tiao3

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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

miu5 tiu5

Cantonese word readings for 窈窕. 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.

adj

(literary, of a woman) quiet and elegant; graceful and fair; gentle and beautiful
(literary, of a woman) seductive; flirtatious
(literary) deep; secluded; profound

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

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