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拓跋

Mandarin · pinyin Tuò bá

branch of the Xianbei 鮮卑 nomadic people, founders of Wei 北魏 of the Northern Dynasties (386-534)
also written 拓拔

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Characters in this entry

拓: tà · expand; open up; support or push
跋: bá · go by foot; epilogue, colophon

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

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Mandarin tones

4–2 · Tuo4 ba2

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2character 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.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

name

(historical) Tuoba (Xianbei clan in ancient China)
a Chinese compound surname from Xianbei

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

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