DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

食客

Mandarin · pinyin shí kè

diner (in a restaurant etc)
hanger-on
sponger

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Characters in this entry

食: shí · eat; meal; food; Kangxi radical 184
客: kè · guest, traveller; customer

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

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Mandarin tones

2–4 · shi2 ke4

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2character links5same-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.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

sik6 haak3

Cantonese word readings for 食客. 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

guest or customer (in a restaurant); diner
(archaic) retainer (in an aristocratic household)

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

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