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芡

Mandarin · pinyin qiàn

Gorgon plant
fox nut (Gorgon euryale or Euryale ferox)
makhana (Hindi)

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Characters in this entry

芡: qiàn · plant allied to the waterlily

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

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Mandarin tones

4 · qian4

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1character link30same-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 · 4 senses · 2 Cantonese readings

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

him3 · hin3

Cantonese word readings for 芡. 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

Euryale ferox, a plant allied to the water lily
cornstarch (with water)
(Eastern Min) to thicken a soup by means of starch
(Southern Min) tempering (spices)

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

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