大動干戈

简 大动干戈 · 繁 大動干戈
Mandarin · pinyin dà dòng gān gē

Meanings

  1. lit. to go to war (idiom)
  2. fig. to make a big fuss over sth
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Characters in this entry

大
dà · big, great, vast, large, high
動
dòng · move, happen; movement, action
干
gàn · oppose, offend; invade; dried
戈
gē · halberd, spear, lance; rad. 62
动
dòng · move, happen; movement, action
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–4–1–1 · da4 dong4 gan1 ge1

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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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