或缺

Mandarin · pinyin huò quē

Meanings

  1. to lack
  2. to do without
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Characters in this entry

或
huò · or, either, else; perhaps, maybe
缺
quē · be short of, lack; gap, deficit
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–1 · huo4 que1

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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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