變

简 变 · 繁 變
Mandarin · pinyin biàn

Meanings

  1. to change
  2. to become different
  3. to transform
  4. to vary
  5. rebellion
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Characters in this entry

變
Look up this written character
变
biàn · change, transform, alter; rebel
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4 · bian4

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Connected dictionary

1character link32same-tone records
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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.

變 · find source passages ↗ · 变 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 17 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

bin3

Cantonese word readings for 變. 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

  1. (intransitive) to change (by itself); to transform
  2. (intransitive) to become; to turn into; to change into
  3. (transitive) to change (something in some way); to alter; to transform
  4. sudden major change; unexpected change of events
  5. (transitive) to sell off (one's property)
  6. (intransitive) to be flexible (when dealing with matters); to accommodate to circumstances
  7. changeable; changing
  8. (Buddhism) bianwen (form of narrative literature from the Tang dynasty)
  9. (literary) natural disasters and unusual natural phenomenon
  10. (literary) political trickery; shifts in politics
  11. (literary) strange; peculiar; queer
  12. (literary) to move; to shift
  13. (Cantonese, of food) to turn bad
  14. (Hokkien) to play tricks; to use schemes (to deceive or harm someone)
  15. (Hokkien) to deal with; to do; to work on
  16. (Hokkien) to fiddle with; to manipulate
  17. a surname

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

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