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打炮

Mandarin · pinyin dǎ pào

to open fire with artillery
to set off firecrackers
to make one's stage debut
(slang) to have sex
to masturbate

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Characters in this entry

打: dǎ · strike, hit, beat; fight; attack
炮: pào · large gun, cannon; artillery

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

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Mandarin tones

3–4 · da3 pao4

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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 Wiktionary · 6 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

daa2 paau3

Cantonese word readings for 打炮. 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.

verb

to fire a cannon; to shoot off a gun; to launch a flare
to set off a firecracker
(dated) to make one's stage debut
(slang) to jerk off; to masturbate
(slang) to have casual sex; to have sex with a fuck buddy
(slang) to consort with prostitutes; to solicit prostitutes

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

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