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白旄黃鉞

简白旄黄钺 · 繁白旄黃鉞

Mandarin · pinyin bái máo huáng yuè

white banner and yellow battle-ax (idiom); refers to military expedition

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Characters in this entry

白: bái · white; pure, unblemished; bright
旄: máo · a kind of ancient flag; old
黃: huáng · yellow; surname; Kangxi radical 201
鉞: Look up this written character
黄: huáng · yellow; surname
钺: yuè · broad-axe, a battle axe, halberd

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

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Mandarin tones

2–2–2–4 · bai2 mao2 huang2 yue4

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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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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

noun

(archaic) white banners and gilded axes (signifying the start of a military expedition)

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

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