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拗

Mandarin · pinyin ǎo#

(dialect) to twist; to bend (in order to break sth or form it into a shape)

Mandarin · pinyin ào#

(bound form) intractable; contrary; disobedient

Mandarin · pinyin niù#

stubborn; perverse; contrary

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拗: ào · to pull, drag, break off, to pluck (a flower); bent, warped; perverse, obstinate

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

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Mandarin tones

3 · ao3

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1character link5same-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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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

aau2 · aau3 · juk6

Cantonese word readings for 拗. 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 · Etymology 1

to defy; to disobey
hard to read

character · Etymology 2

(dialectal) to bend; twist as to break
(Hakka) to pluck; to pick (flowers, fruits, leaves, etc.)
(Hokkien) to fold; to droop; to hem; to pleat
(Hokkien) to coerce; to force; to compel; to oppress; to treat unjustly; to make false claims or deliberately misinterpret
(Hokkien) to shortchange; to skimp; to scrimp; to give insufficiently
(Taiwanese Hokkien) Classifier for folds of thin sheets.

character · Etymology 3

stubborn; obstinate

character · Etymology 4

(obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) to suppress; to repress

character · Etymology 5

(Cantonese) alternative form of 詏 /𬣦 (“to argue; to dispute”)

character · Etymology 6

do not want; do not like to (expressing nonvolition)
do not need to; do not have to
do not; don't (as an imperative)

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

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