肉袒

Mandarin · pinyin ròu tǎn

Meanings

  1. to make a humble apology (formal writing)
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Characters in this entry

肉
ròu · flesh; meat; Kangxi radical 130
袒
tǎn · strip; lay bare; bared; naked
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–3 · rou4 tan3

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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

juk6 taan2

Cantonese word readings for 肉袒. 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.

verb

  1. (literary) to be partially naked (chiefly baring the arms up to the shoulders or the entire upper body, a gesture of humility)

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

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