巧

Mandarin · pinyin qiǎo

Meanings

  1. opportunely
  2. coincidentally
  3. as it happens
  4. skillful
  5. timely
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Characters in this entry

巧
qiǎo · skillful, ingenious, clever
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

3 · qiao3

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1character link4same-tone records
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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.

巧 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Rime · Wiktionary

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

haau2 · kiu2

Cantonese word readings for 巧. 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.

character · Etymology 1

  1. skill; technique
  2. ingenious; skillful
  3. hypocritical; fake; cunning
  4. exquisite; elaborate
  5. (Xiamen and Zhangzhou Hokkien) pretty; beautiful
  6. opportune; coincidental
  7. fortunately; by chance
  8. (Hefei Mandarin) cheap
  9. (~日) (telegraphy) the eighteenth day of a month
  10. a surname

character · Etymology 2

  1. (Cantonese) opportune; coincidental

character · Etymology 3

  1. (Hong Kong Cantonese, neologism, leetspeak or sarcastic) alternative form of 好

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

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