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左宗棠雞

简左宗棠鸡 · 繁左宗棠雞

Mandarin · pinyin Zuǒ Zōng táng jī

General Tso's chicken, a deep-fried chicken dish

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Characters in this entry

左: zuǒ · left; east; unorthodox, improper
宗: zōng · lineage, ancestry; ancestor, clan
棠: táng · crab apple tree; wild plums
雞: jī · chickens; domestic fowl
鸡: jī · chicken

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

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Mandarin tones

3–1–2–1 · Zuo3 Zong1 tang2 ji1

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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.

左宗棠雞 · find source passages ↗ · 左宗棠鸡 · find source passages ↗

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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

General Tso's chicken

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

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