慈

Mandarin · pinyin cí

Meanings

  1. compassionate
  2. gentle
  3. merciful
  4. kind
  5. humane
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Characters in this entry

慈
cí · kind, charitable, benevolent
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

2 · ci2

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Connected dictionary

1character link27same-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.

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Compare dictionary sources Rime · Wiktionary

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

ci4

Cantonese word readings for 慈. 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

  1. (of someone older to someone younger) to love; to show affection to
  2. kind; charitable; benevolent
  3. (literary, honorific) mother
  4. a surname

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack