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然則

简然则 · 繁然則

Mandarin · pinyin rán zé

that being the case
then
in that case

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Characters in this entry

然: rán · yes, certainly; pledge, promise
則: Look up this written character
则: zé · rule, law, regulation; grades

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

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Mandarin tones

2–2 · ran2 ze2

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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.

然則 · find source passages ↗ · 然则 · find source passages ↗

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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.

conj

that being the case; so

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

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