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怎麼了

简怎么了 · 繁怎麼了

Mandarin · pinyin zěn me le

What's up?
What's going on?
What happened?

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Characters in this entry

怎: zěn · what? why? how?
麼: me · interrogative final particle; insignificant, small, tiny
了: le · to finish; particle of completed action
么: me · interrogative particle; small

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

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Mandarin tones

3–5–5 · zen3 me5 le5

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Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

4character links1same-tone record

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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.

怎麼了 · find source passages ↗ · 怎么了 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

intj

What happened?; What's wrong?

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

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