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孔武有力

Mandarin · pinyin kǒng wǔ yǒu lì

courageous and strong (idiom)
Herculean (physique etc)

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Characters in this entry

孔: kǒng · opening, hole, orifice; great
武: wǔ · military; martial, warlike
有: yǒu · have, own, possess; exist
力: lì · power, capability, influence; Kangxi radical 19

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

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Mandarin tones

3–3–3–4 · kong3 wu3 you3 li4

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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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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

hung2 mou5 jau5 lik6

Cantonese word readings for 孔武有力. 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.

phrase

(idiomatic) to have great physical strength and courage

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

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