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苦刑

Mandarin · pinyin kǔ xíng

torture
corporal punishment (traditionally involving mutilation or amputation)

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Characters in this entry

苦: kǔ · bitter; hardship, suffering
刑: xíng · punishment, penalty; law

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

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Mandarin tones

3–2 · ku3 xing2

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2character links1same-tone record

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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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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

fu2 jing4

Cantonese word readings for 苦刑. 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.

noun

torture; corporal punishment

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

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