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南北朝

Mandarin · pinyin Nán Běi cháo

Northern and Southern dynasties (420-589)

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Characters in this entry

南: nán · south; southern part; southward
北: běi · north; northern; northward
朝: cháo · dynasty; morning

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

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Mandarin tones

2–3–2 · Nan2 Bei3 chao2

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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.

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

naam4 bak1 ciu4

Cantonese word readings for 南北朝. 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.

name

(historical) the Northern and Southern dynasties (420-589 in Chinese history)
(historical) the Nanboku-chō period (1336-1392 in Japanese history)
(historical) the Southern and Northern dynasties (1533 to 1592 in Vietnamese history)

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

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