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奈

Mandarin · pinyin nài

used in expressions that convey frustration and futility, such as 無奈 wú nài and 莫可奈何 mò kě nài hé (literary)
used for its phonetic value in writing foreign words

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奈: nài · but, how; bear, stand, endure

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

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Mandarin tones

4 · nai4

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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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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

noi6

Cantonese word readings for 奈. 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

how; why (used in rhetorical questions)
to bear; to stand; to endure
(Taiwan) nano- (SI unit prefix)

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

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