節哀

简 节哀 · 繁 節哀
Mandarin · pinyin jié āi

Meanings

  1. to restrain one's grief (used in expressions of condolence, e.g. 請節哀 qǐng jié āi and 節哀順變 jié āi shùn biàn)
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Characters in this entry

節
Look up this written character
哀
āi · sad, mournful, pitiful; pity
节
jié · knot, node, joint; section
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

2–1 · jie2 ai1

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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.

節哀 · find source passages ↗ · 节哀 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

verb

  1. (literary) to restrain one's grief (often used to console family of a deceased person)

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

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

節哀 · jie2 ai1
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 83,497
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record節哀 节哀 [jie2 ai1] /to restrain one's grief (used in expressions of condolence, e.g. 請節哀|请节哀[qing3 jie2 ai1] and 節哀順變|节哀顺变[jie2 ai1 shun4 bian4])/