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像話

简像话 · 繁像話

Mandarin · pinyin xiàng huà

proper; appropriate (mostly used in the negative or in a rhetorical question)

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Characters in this entry

像: xiàng · a picture, image, figure; to resemble
話: huà · speech, talk, language; dialect
话: huà · speech, talk, language; dialect

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

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Mandarin tones

4–4 · xiang4 hua4

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Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

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3character links1same-tone record

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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.

像話 · find source passages ↗ · 像话 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

zoeng6 waa6

Cantonese word readings for 像話. 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.

verb

(colloquial, often used in negative or interrogative sentences) to be proper; to be reasonable; to be appropriate

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

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