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灰

Mandarin · pinyin huī

ash
dust
lime
gray
discouraged; dejected

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灰: huī · ashes; dust; lime, mortar

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

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Mandarin tones

1 · hui1

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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 · 12 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

fui1

Cantonese word readings for 灰. 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 · Etymology 1

ash
dust
lime; mortar
gray
disheartened
(～日) (telegraphy) the tenth day of a month
(Cantonese, slang) powdered drug; heroin
a surname

character · Etymology 2

(Hokkien) to extinguish; to go out (of fire)
(idiomatic) to be about to die
(Quanzhou Hokkien, dated in Xiamen Hokkien) to be fully cured (of a disease); to disappear (of a scar)

character · Etymology 4

used in 灰士

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

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