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琴

Mandarin · pinyin qín

guqin 古琴 gǔ qín (a type of zither)
musical instrument in general

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琴: qín · Chinese lute or guitar

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

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Mandarin tones

2 · qin2

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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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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

kam4

Cantonese word readings for 琴. 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

(music) qin (“Chinese zithers”), referring to any of several traditional Chinese musical instruments, most famously the guqin
(literary) to play the qin
(music) collective name for certain musical instruments, usually of string or keyboard types, such as piano, organ, violin, cello, huqin, accordion, harmonica, etc.
(music, specifically) piano (Classifier: 部 c)

character · Etymology 2

(Cantonese) yesterday

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

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