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斷背

简断背 · 繁斷背

Mandarin · pinyin duàn bèi

homosexual (a reference to Brokeback Mountain 斷背山 Duàn bèi Shān, a 2005 movie about a same-sex relationship)

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Characters in this entry

斷: Look up this written character
背: bèi · back; back side; behind; betray
断: duàn · sever, cut off; interrupt

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

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Mandarin tones

4–4 · duan4 bei4

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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.

斷背 · find source passages ↗ · 断背 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

dyun6 bui3

Cantonese word readings for 斷背. 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.

noun

(figurative, slang) homosexuality or homosexual

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

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