DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT
咋
Characters in this entry
- 咋
- zǎ · question-forming particle, why? how? what?; to bite; loud
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Mandarin tones
3 · za3
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
Connected dictionary
1character link1same-tone record2source references
Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.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.
Compare dictionary sources Rime · Wiktionary
Rime Cantonese 粵拼
zaa1 · zaa2 · zaa3 · zaa6 · zaak3 · zaak6
Cantonese word readings for 咋. 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
- (colloquial, dialectal) how; why
character · Etymology 2
- (obsolete) to be loud; to shout; to cry
character · Etymology 3
- (obsolete) to bite
- used in 㕭咋
character · Etymology 4
- (obsolete) alternative form of 炸 (“to burst; to explode; to infuriate”)
character · Etymology 5
- (obsolete) alternative form of 乍 (zhà, “suddenly; in an outburst”)
character · Etymology 6
- only used in 咋呼 (zhāhu)
character · Etymology 7
- (Cantonese, at the end of a phrase) only; just; simply
character · Etymology 8
- Sentence-final particle used to seek confirmation, expressing surprise and suspicion on a delimitation: only so few/little?
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack