腦

简 脑 · 繁 腦
Mandarin · pinyin nǎo

Meanings

  1. brain
  2. mind
  3. head
  4. essence
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Characters in this entry

腦
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脑
nǎo · brain
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

3 · nao3

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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.

腦 · find source passages ↗ · 脑 · find source passages ↗

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

nou5

Cantonese word readings for 腦. 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

  1. (anatomy) brain (Classifier: 個/个 m c)
  2. head
  3. brains; mind
  4. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) to smash one's head
  5. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) core; central part
  6. (in compounds) brain-like object or substance
  7. (abbreviation, alt-of) short for 龍腦/龙脑 (lóngnǎo, “Borneo camphor; d-borneol”)
  8. (in compounds) camphor or a camphor-like plant extract
  9. (Hong Kong Cantonese) short for 電腦/电脑 (din⁶ nou⁵, “computer”) (Classifier: 部 c)

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

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