DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT
電
简 电 · 繁 電Mandarin · pinyin diàn
Meanings
- lightning
- electricity
- electric (bound form)
- to get (or give) an electric shock
- phone call or telegram etc
- to send via telephone or telegram etc
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Mandarin tones
4 · dian4
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
Connected dictionary
1character link39same-tone records
Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.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.
Compare dictionary sources Rime · Wiktionary
Rime Cantonese 粵拼
din6
Cantonese word readings for 電. 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
- (uncountable) lightning
- (uncountable) electric power or energy; electricity
- electric; electrical
- (dialectal, countable) battery (Classifier: 粒 c; 嚿 c)
- (colloquial, uncountable) romantic attraction; chemistry
- (abbreviation, alt-of) short for 電話／电话 (diànhuà, “telephone; phone call”)
- (abbreviation, alt-of) short for 電報／电报 (diànbào, “telegram”)
- (abbreviation, alt-of) short for 電臺／电台 (diàntái, “broadcasting station; radio station”)
- (transitive) to give an electric shock to
- (figuratively, of a person) energy
- to make a telephone call
- to send a telegram
- (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) fast; speedy
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
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