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咧

Mandarin · pinyin liē#

Mandarin · pinyin liě#

to draw back the corners of one's mouth

Mandarin · pinyin lie#

modal particle expressing exclamation

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咧: liě · stretch mouth, grimace, grin

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

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Mandarin tones

1 · lie1

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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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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

le2 · le3 · le4 · lit6

Cantonese word readings for 咧. 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

To grimace

character · Etymology 2

to draw back the corners of one's mouth

character · Etymology 3

(dialectal) synonym of 了 (le)
(dialectal) synonym of 啦 (la)

character · Etymology 4

(Hokkien, prepositive) in the process of; currently (placed before the verb)
(Xiamen, Quanzhou, Jinjiang and Philippine Hokkien, postpositive) in; at; on (placed after verbs indicating a change of location or position)
(Xiamen, Zhangzhou and Taiwanese Hokkien, postpositive) give something a go; give something a try

character · Etymology 5

(chiefly Hokkien, postpositive) Postpositive particle signaling emphasis of the preceding words, usually a verb to produce an imperative.
(chiefly Hokkien, postpositive) Sentence-final interrogative particle used to express doubt.

character · Etymology 6

(Tong'an Hokkien) to joke; to kid; to make a joke; to joke around

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

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