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二一添作五

Mandarin · pinyin èr yī tiān zuò wǔ

lit. one half equals zero point five (division rule in abacus reckoning)
to share fairly between two parties
to go fifty-fifty

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Characters in this entry

二: èr · two; twice
一: yī · one; a, an; alone
添: tiān · append, add to; increase
作: zuò · make; work; compose, write; act, perform
五: wǔ · five; surname

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

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Mandarin tones

4–1–1–4–3 · er4 yi1 tian1 zuo4 wu3

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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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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

ji6 jat1 tim1 zok3 ng5

Cantonese word readings for 二一添作五. 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.

phrase

(division rule in abacus reckoning) one half is zero point five; 1/2=0.5
(figurative) to divide fairly between 2 people; to go fifty-fifty

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

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