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互文

Mandarin · pinyin hù wén

paired phrases (poetic device)

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互: hù · mutually, reciprocally
文: wén · literature, culture, writing

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

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Mandarin tones

4–2 · hu4 wen2

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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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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

wu6 man4

Cantonese word readings for 互文. 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

(rhetoric) mutually implied phrasing (a kind of rhetorical device employed in early Chinese writing and argument); paired phrases

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

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