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磕磕巴巴

Mandarin · pinyin kē kē bā bā

stammering
stuttering
not speaking fluently

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Characters in this entry

磕: kē · hit; collide, knock into; sound
巴: bā · greatly desire, anxiously hope

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

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Mandarin tones

1–1–1–1 · ke1 ke1 ba1 ba1

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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 · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

hap6 hap6 baa1 baa1

Cantonese word readings for 磕磕巴巴. 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.

phrase

(idiomatic) to stutter; to stammer

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

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