DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT
弁
Mandarin · pinyin biàn
Meanings
- (old) cap (garment)
- military officer of low rank (in former times)
- preceding
Characters in this entry
- 弁
- biàn · conical cap worn during Zhou dynasty
Explore the spelling
Mandarin tones
4 · bian4
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
Connected dictionary
1character link32same-tone records
Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.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.
Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 10 senses · 2 Cantonese readings
Rime Cantonese 粵拼
bin6 · pun4
Cantonese word readings for 弁. 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
- conical cap worn during the Zhou dynasty
- (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese, of a man) to wear a cap (usually to indicate adulthood)
- (historical) low-ranking military officer
- to place before or above
- (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) quick; rushed
- (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) to panic; to shudder
- (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) alternative form of 卞 (biàn, “to wrestle with bare hands”)
- (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) alternative form of 卞 (Biàn, “a county in Shandong”)
- a surname
character · Etymology 2
- (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) happy
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
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