走水

Mandarin · pinyin zǒu shuǐ

Meanings

  1. to leak
  2. to flow
  3. to catch on fire
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Characters in this entry

走
zǒu · walk, go on foot; run; leave; Kangxi radical 156
水
shuǐ · water, liquid, lotion, juice
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

3–3 · zou3 shui3

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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 · 11 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

zau2 seoi2

Cantonese word readings for 走水. 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.

verb

  1. (of water) to flow
  2. to leak water
  3. (euphemistic) to catch on fire; to be on fire
  4. (obsolete) to swim
  5. (obsolete) to leave by boat
  6. (figurative, obsolete) to manage accounts
  7. (figurative, obsolete) to divulge secrets
  8. (figurative, dialectal) to travel around trading on one's own; to be an itinerant trader

noun

  1. running water

verb

  1. (Teochew, of animals) to be in heat
  2. (Teochew) to smuggle

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

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