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瘠薄

Mandarin · pinyin jí bó

(of land) infertile
barren

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Characters in this entry

瘠: jí · thin, emaciated; barren
薄: báo · bó · thin, slight, weak; poor, stingy

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

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Mandarin tones

2–2 · ji2 bo2

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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.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 5 senses

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

adj

barren (not producing vegetation); infertile
(literary) meager; scanty; negligible

noun

(literary) barren land; infertile field
(literary) impoverished region
(literary) impoverished residents

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

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