DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT
齋
简 斋 · 繁 齋Mandarin · pinyin zhāi
Meanings
- to fast or abstain from meat, wine etc
- vegetarian diet
- study room
- building
- to give alms (to a monk)
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Mandarin tones
1 · zhai1
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
Connected dictionary
1character link5same-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 Wiktionary · 11 senses · 1 Cantonese reading
Rime Cantonese 粵拼
zaai1
Cantonese word readings for 齋. 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
- (historical) to show one's piety before offering sacrifices and other ceremonies in ancient times, by abstaining from meat and alcohol, bathing oneself and clearing one's mind of distracting thoughts
- (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) solemn; earnest
- vegetarian diet (often adopted for religious reasons)
- fasting
- (Buddhism, Taoism) religious ceremony (Classifier: 堂 c)
- (Cantonese) plain; dull; boring; dry
- (Cantonese) purely; only; just
- to give alms to monks
- study (room); studio
- house; shop; building
- a surname
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack