初探

Mandarin · pinyin chū tàn

Meanings

  1. to conduct an exploratory foray into (an area of study, a market etc)
  2. a preliminary study
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Characters in this entry

初
chū · beginning, initial, primary
探
tàn · find, locate; search, grope for
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1–4 · chu1 tan4

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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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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

noun

  1. tentative exploration (usually used in article and book titles)

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

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