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肯

Mandarin · pinyin kěn

to agree; to consent
to be willing to

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肯: kěn · willing; consent to, permit

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

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Mandarin tones

3 · ken3

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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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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

hang2 · hoi2

Cantonese word readings for 肯. 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

(literary) meat attached to the bone; tendon; sinew
to be willing to; to be ready to
to consent to; to permit; to agree
(archaic, rhetorical question) how could it be that
(Teochew, negated or interrogative) to be only
(abbreviation, alt-of) short for 肯尼亞／肯尼亚 (Kěnníyà, “Kenya”)
Used in transcription.

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

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