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殺手鐧

简杀手锏 · 繁殺手鐧

Mandarin · pinyin shā shǒu jiǎn

(fig.) trump card

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Characters in this entry

殺: Look up this written character
手: shǒu · hand
鐧: Look up this written character
杀: shā · kill, slaughter, murder; hurt
锏: jiǎn · kind of rapier

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

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Mandarin tones

1–3–3 · sha1 shou3 jian3

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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.

殺手鐧 · find source passages ↗ · 杀手锏 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

saat3 sau2 gaan2

Cantonese word readings for 殺手鐧. 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) one's trump card

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

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