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拋繡球

简抛绣球 · 繁拋繡球

Mandarin · pinyin pāo xiù qiú

throwing the embroidered ball (traditional Zhuang flirting game at festivals)
(fig.) to make overtures
to court

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Characters in this entry

拋: Look up this written character
繡: Look up this written character
球: qiú · ball, sphere, globe; round
抛: pāo · throw (away)
绣: xiù · embroider; embroidery; ornament

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

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Mandarin tones

1–4–2 · pao1 xiu4 qiu2

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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.

拋繡球 · find source passages ↗ · 抛绣球 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

paau1 sau3 kau4

Cantonese word readings for 拋繡球. 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

(historical, of a woman) to throw an embroidered ball from a high place (a method for a woman to find a husband in ancient times; the man that catches the embroidered ball could marry the woman and become her husband)

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

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