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合掌

Mandarin · pinyin hé zhǎng

to clasp hands
to put one's palms together (in prayer)

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Characters in this entry

合: hé · combine, unite, join; gather
掌: zhǎng · palm of hand, sole of foot, paw

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

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Mandarin tones

2–3 · he2 zhang3

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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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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

verb

to put one's hands together to pray; to press one's palms together

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

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