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客氣話

简客气话 · 繁客氣話

Mandarin · pinyin kè qi huà

words of politeness
politesse
decorous talking
talk with propriety

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Characters in this entry

客: kè · guest, traveller; customer
氣: qì · air, gas, steam, vapor; spirit
話: huà · speech, talk, language; dialect
气: qì · steam, vapor; Kangxi radical 84
话: huà · speech, talk, language; dialect

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

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Mandarin tones

4–5–4 · ke4 qi5 hua4

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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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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

noun

polite formula; phatic expression

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

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