DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

奈何

Mandarin · pinyin nài hé

to do something to sb
to deal with
to cope
how?
to no avail

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Characters in this entry

奈: nài · but, how; bear, stand, endure
何: hé · what, why, where, which, how

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

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Mandarin tones

4–2 · nai4 he2

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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 ho4

Cantonese word readings for 奈何. 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.

adv

(literary) how; what
(literary) what is to be done; what can be done
(literary) to no avail

verb

(literary) to do something to somebody
(verb-object) to deal with; to cope with

noun

(literary) way out

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

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