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三甲

Mandarin · pinyin sān jiǎ

3rd rank of candidates who passed the imperial examination
(hospital ranking) A-grade tertiary (the highest level) (abbr. for 三級甲等 sān jí jiǎ děng)

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Characters in this entry

三: sān · three
甲: jiǎ · armor, shell; fingernails; 1st heavenly stem

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

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Mandarin tones

1–3 · san1 jia3

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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

saam1 gaap3

Cantonese word readings for 三甲. 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.

adj

(attributive, in hospital classification) short for 三級甲等／三级甲等 (sān jí jiǎděng, “grade-A tertiary”)

noun

top 3 in a competition or ranking

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

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