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十二地支

Mandarin · pinyin shí èr dì zhī

the 12 earthly branches 子 zǐ, 丑, 寅, 卯, 辰, 巳, 午, 未, 申, 酉, 戌, 亥 (used cyclically in the calendar and as ordinal numbers)

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Characters in this entry

十: shí · ten, tenth; complete; perfect
二: èr · two; twice
地: de · dì · earth; soil, ground; region
支: zhī · disperse, pay; support; branch

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

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Mandarin tones

2–4–4–1 · shi2 er4 di4 zhi1

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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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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

sap6 ji6 dei6 zi1

Cantonese word readings for 十二地支. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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