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縣

简 县 · 繁 縣
Mandarin · pinyin xiàn

Meanings

  1. county
  2. (Japan) prefecture
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Characters in this entry

縣
Look up this written character
县
xiàn · county, district, subdivision
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Entries containing 縣 ↗Words written with 縣 ↗Words written with 县 ↗

Mandarin tones

4 · xian4

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2character links40same-tone records
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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.

縣 · find source passages ↗ · 县 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 10 senses · 3 Cantonese readings

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

jyun2 · jyun4 · jyun6

Cantonese word readings for 縣. 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 · Etymology 1

  1. A type of administrative division: — (historical, in ancient China) district; prefecture
  2. A type of administrative division: — (in Mainland China) county (third level division that is now generally restricted to rural areas, contrasted with urban districts (區／区 (qū)))
  3. A type of administrative division: — (in Taiwan) county (first level division that used to be under the jurisdiction of a province but are now directly administered by the central government)
  4. A type of administrative division: — (in Indonesia) regency
  5. A type of administrative division: — (in Japan) prefecture
  6. A type of administrative division: — (in the United States) county (second level division under the jurisdiction of a state, excluding Alaska and Louisiana)
  7. A type of administrative division: — (in Vietnam) rural district
  8. (in many cases but not always) county seat (the town which serves as the seat of government of such divisions)
  9. a surname

character · Etymology 2

  1. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) alternative form of 懸 /悬 (xuán, “to hang; to suspend”)

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

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