DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT
天干
Mandarin · pinyin tiān gān
Meanings
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Mandarin tones
1–1 · tian1 gan1
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
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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 Wiktionary · 5 senses · 1 Cantonese reading
Rime Cantonese 粵拼
tin1 gon1
Cantonese word readings for 天干. 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 · Etymology 1
- heavenly stem: one of the ten terms used in East Asian cultures to represent — (historical or astrology) A day of the traditional ten-day week.
- heavenly stem: one of the ten terms used in East Asian cultures to represent — (mythology) One of the ten suns thought to appear in succession on its appointed day of the traditional week
- heavenly stem: one of the ten terms used in East Asian cultures to represent — (historical religion) The ancestor venerated with a ritual on the appointed day of the traditional week.
- heavenly stem: one of the ten terms used in East Asian cultures to represent — (formal) An ordinal, used in similar contexts to Roman numerals in English numbering and outlining.
- The set of ten heavenly stems as a whole.
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
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