活字典

Mandarin · pinyin huó zì diǎn

Meanings

  1. walking dictionary
  2. well-informed person
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Characters in this entry

活
huó · live, exist, survive; lively
字
zì · letter, character, word
典
diǎn · law, canon; documentation; classic, scripture
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

2–4–3 · huo2 zi4 dian3

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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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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

noun

  1. walking dictionary; walking encyclopedia

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

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