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放手

Mandarin · pinyin fàng shǒu

to let go one's hold
to give up
to have a free hand

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Characters in this entry

放: fàng · put, release, free, liberate
手: shǒu · hand

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

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Mandarin tones

4–3 · fang4 shou3

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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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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 3 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

fong3 sau2

Cantonese word readings for 放手. 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 let go (of one's hold); to lose one's grip
(figurative) to give up; to abandon
(figurative) to give free rein; to hand over control

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

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