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夭

Mandarin · pinyin yāo

(bound form) to die prematurely (also pr. yǎo)
(literary) (of vegetation) luxuriant

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夭: yāo · young, fresh-looking; die young

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

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Mandarin tones

1 · yao1

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1character link19same-tone records

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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

jiu1 · jiu2 · ou2

Cantonese word readings for 夭. 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

to die young, to die prematurely
to be aggrieved
to devastate
disaster

character

young, fresh-looking
tender, gentle
lush
(alt-of, alternative) alternative form of 妖 (yāo)

character

young animal or plant

character

name of an ancient place

character

only used in 夭斜

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

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