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甘草

Mandarin · pinyin gān cǎo

licorice root

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Characters in this entry

甘: gān · sweetness; sweet, tasty
草: cǎo · grass, straw, thatch, herbs

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

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Mandarin tones

1–3 · gan1 cao3

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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 · 2 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

gam1 cou2

Cantonese word readings for 甘草. 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.

noun

licorice (Glycyrrhiza uralensis, whose root often used in traditional Chinese medicine to improve qi)
(figurative) supporting character, or actors performing such roles, especially experienced ones

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

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