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使

Mandarin · pinyin shǐ

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使: shǐ · cause, send on a mission, order; envoy, messenger, ambassador

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

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Mandarin tones

3 · shi3

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1character link17same-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 · 12 senses · 3 Cantonese readings

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

sai2 · si2 · si3

Cantonese word readings for 使. 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

to order (somebody to do something); to send (somebody)
(literary) to put (people) to work
to let; to make; to cause to
to use; to employ
to play; to play with; to resort to; to dally with
to indulge
(literary) if
(Cantonese, always negated or interrogative) need to [do something]; have to
(Cantonese, always negated or interrogative) need [something]; require; want strongly
(Quanzhou and Philippine Hokkien, vulgar) to fuck

character

to be sent as an envoy
envoy; messenger

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack