國語

简 国语 · 繁 國語
Mandarin · pinyin Guó yǔ

Meanings

  1. Chinese language (Mandarin), emphasizing its national nature
  2. Chinese as a primary or secondary school subject
  3. Chinese in the context of the Nationalist Government
  4. Guoyu, book of historical narrative c. 10th-5th century BC
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Characters in this entry

國
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語
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国
guó · nation, country, nation-state
语
yǔ · language, words; saying, expression
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

2–3 · Guo2 yu3

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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

gwok3 jyu5

Cantonese word readings for 國語. 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

  1. national language; language specific to or of official usage in a nation — (chiefly Taiwan, overseas communities in the West and Philippine Hokkien, colloquial or historical in Hong Kong, dated in Mainland China, obsolete in Malaysia and Singapore) Standard Mandarin Chinese; Standard Chinese
  2. national language; language specific to or of official usage in a nation — (usually in contrast with 普通話/普通话 (pǔtōnghuà, “Mandarin as spoken in Mainland China”)) Taiwanese Mandarin; Mandarin as spoken in Taiwan
  3. national language; language specific to or of official usage in a nation — (Malaysia) Malay, the national language of Malaysia
  4. national language; language specific to or of official usage in a nation — (obsolete in Taiwan) the Japanese language
  5. national language; language specific to or of official usage in a nation — (historical) under conquest dynasties founded by non-Han groups, the language of the conquering ethnic group: Khitan under the Liao, Mongol under the Yuan, Manchu under the Qing, etc.
  6. national language; language specific to or of official usage in a nation — (Mainland China) short for 國家通用語言/国家通用语言
  7. national language; language specific to or of official usage in a nation — (Korean Classical Chinese) the Korean language
  8. national language; language specific to or of official usage in a nation — (Vietnamese Classical Chinese) the Vietnamese language; chữ Nôm

name

  1. Discourses of the States (a text from the Spring and Autumn period)

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

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

國語 · Guo2 yu3
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 24,442
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record國語 国语 [Guo2 yu3] /Chinese language (Mandarin), emphasizing its national nature/Chinese as a primary or secondary school subject/Chinese in the context of the Nationalist Government/Guoyu, book of historical narrative c. 10th-5th century BC/