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起毛

Mandarin · pinyin qǐ máo

fluff
lint
to feel nervous

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Characters in this entry

起: qǐ · rise, stand up; go up; begin
毛: máo · hair, fur, feathers; coarse

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

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Mandarin tones

3–2 · qi3 mao2

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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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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

verb · Etymology 1

(of woollen cloth) to pill; fluff
(dialectal Mandarin) to feel nervous; to be scared; to be flustered; to be disconcerted
(Yangzhou Mandarin) to lose one's temper

noun · Etymology 2

(Taiwanese Hokkien) emotion; mood

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

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