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臊

Mandarin · pinyin sāo#

to smell of urine (or sweat etc)

Mandarin · pinyin sào#

shame
bashfulness
to shame
to humiliate

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臊: sāo · rancid; rank, fetid; bashful

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

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Mandarin tones

1 · sao1

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1character link11same-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.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 10 senses · 2 Cantonese readings

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

sou1 · sou3

Cantonese word readings for 臊. 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

(having) the rank taste and smell of meat, such as pork or mutton
(having) the smell like one of urine
(Cantonese) (having) the smell of milk
(Cantonese, dated in Hong Kong) to give birth
(Cantonese) baby
(Southern Min) fishy
(Southern Min) meat or fish dishes (as opposed to vegetarian dishes)

character · Etymology 2

embarrassed
to embarrass

character · Etymology 3

minced meat

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

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