告

Mandarin · pinyin gào

Meanings

  1. (bound form) to say; to tell
  2. to announce; to report
  3. to denounce
  4. to file a lawsuit; to sue
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Characters in this entry

告
gào · tell, announce, inform; accuse
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4 · gao4

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1character link10same-tone records
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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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Compare dictionary sources Rime · Wiktionary

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

gou3 · guk1

Cantonese word readings for 告. 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.

character · Etymology 1

  1. to report to
  2. to tell; to inform
  3. to request
  4. to announce; to declare
  5. to expose; to denounce
  6. to accuse; to sue; to file a lawsuit; to press charges
  7. (Eastern Min) to call

character · Etymology 1

  1. only used in 忠告 (zhōnggào)

character · Etymology 1

  1. only used in 告朔

character · Etymology 2

  1. (Southwestern Mandarin) to try; to check out

character · Etymology 3

  1. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) to interrogate and convict

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack