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甘

Mandarin · pinyin gān#

(bound form) sweet; pleasant (contrasted with 苦 kǔ: bitter, unpleasant)
to be willing (to do sth)

Mandarin · pinyin Gān#

surname Gan
short name for Gansu 甘肅 Gān sù

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甘: gān · sweetness; sweet, tasty

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

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Mandarin tones

1 · gan1

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1character link39same-tone records1source reference

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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 · 6 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

gam1

Cantonese word readings for 甘. 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

sweet
pleasant; satisfactory
willingly; readily
(Cantonese, ironic) bitter; difficult to bear
a surname
(abbreviation, alt-of) short for 甘肅／甘肃 (Gānsù, “Gansu”)

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

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