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日本刀

Mandarin · pinyin Rì běn dāo

Japanese sword
katana

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Characters in this entry

日: rì · sun; day; daytime
本: běn · root, origin, source; basis
刀: dāo · knife; old coin; measure

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

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Mandarin tones

4–3–1 · Ri4 ben3 dao1

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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

jat6 bun2 dou1

Cantonese word readings for 日本刀. 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

Japanese sword or knife
katana

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

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