功臣

Mandarin · pinyin gōng chén

Meanings

  1. meritorious official
  2. person who renders exceptional service; hero
  3. (fig.) sth that plays a vital role
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Characters in this entry

功
gōng · achievement, merit, good result
臣
chén · minister, statesman, official; Kangxi radical 131
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1–2 · gong1 chen2

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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 · 2 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

gung1 san4

Cantonese word readings for 功臣. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

noun

  1. person who has made an exceptional contribution
  2. (historical) subject, minister or official who has rendered outstanding service

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

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

功臣 · gong1 chen2
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 15,182
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record功臣 功臣 [gong1 chen2] /meritorious official/person who renders exceptional service; hero/(fig.) sth that plays a vital role/