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古文

Mandarin · pinyin gǔ wén

old language
the Classics
Classical Chinese as a literary model, esp. in Tang and Song prose
Classical Chinese as a school subject

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Characters in this entry

古: gǔ · old, classic, ancient
文: wén · literature, culture, writing

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

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Mandarin tones

3–2 · gu3 wen2

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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

gu2 man2

Cantonese word readings for 古文. 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.

noun

Classical Chinese
Literary Chinese
Classical Chinese texts
(writing, palaeography) ancient script

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

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