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方孔錢

简方孔钱 · 繁方孔錢

Mandarin · pinyin fāng kǒng qián

round coin with a square hole in the middle, used in former times in China

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Characters in this entry

方: fāng · a square, rectangle; a region; local
孔: kǒng · opening, hole, orifice; great
錢: Look up this written character
钱: qián · money, currency, coins

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

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Mandarin tones

1–3–2 · fang1 kong3 qian2

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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.

方孔錢 · find source passages ↗ · 方孔钱 · find source passages ↗

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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

cash (low-denomination coin formerly used in China and India)

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

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