DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

客套

Mandarin · pinyin kè tào

polite greeting
civilities
to exchange pleasantries

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Characters in this entry

客: kè · guest, traveller; customer
套: tào · case, cover, wrapper, envelope

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

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Mandarin tones

4–4 · ke4 tao4

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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 · 2 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

haak3 tou3

Cantonese word readings for 客套. 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

polite greetings; courtesies (in words); civilities; formalities

verb

to exchange courtesies

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

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