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流

Mandarin · pinyin liú

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流: liú · flow, circulate, drift; class

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

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Mandarin tones

2 · liu2

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1character link45same-tone records

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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 · 10 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

lau4

Cantonese word readings for 流. 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.

character

to flow
to drift; to wander
class; grade
(of water, electricity, other fluids) current; flow; stream
to spread; to scatter; to disseminate
(physics) short for 流明 (liúmíng, “lumen”)
(mathematics) flow
(computing) stream
(Cantonese, Hakka) of poor quality
(Cantonese) fake; ingenuine

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

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