務

简 务 · 繁 務
Mandarin · pinyin wù

Meanings

  1. affair
  2. business
  3. matter
  4. to be engaged in
  5. to attend to
  6. by all means
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Characters in this entry

務
Look up this written character
务
wù · affairs, business; must, should
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4 · wu4

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1character link52same-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.

務 · find source passages ↗ · 务 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Rime · Wiktionary

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

mou6

Cantonese word readings for 務. 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 · Etymology 1

  1. to be engaged in; to be devoted to
  2. to seek; to pursue
  3. business; affairs
  4. must; should; be sure to
  5. 26th tetragram of the Taixuanjing; "endeavor" (𝌟)
  6. a surname

character · Etymology 2

  1. (Eastern Min) alternative form of 有 (“to have”)

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

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