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南腔北調

简南腔北调 · 繁南腔北調

Mandarin · pinyin nán qiāng běi diào

a regional accent

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Characters in this entry

南: nán · south; southern part; southward
腔: qiāng · chest cavity; hollow in body
北: běi · north; northern; northward
調: Look up this written character
调: diào · transfer, move, change; tune

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

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Mandarin tones

2–1–3–4 · nan2 qiang1 bei3 diao4

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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.

南腔北調 · find source passages ↗ · 南腔北调 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

naam4 hong1 bak1 diu6

Cantonese word readings for 南腔北調. 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.

phrase

(idiomatic) southern intonation and northern tones; an idiolect or accent with features from more than one language variety

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

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