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草民

Mandarin · pinyin cǎo mín

the grass roots
the hoi polloi

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Characters in this entry

草: cǎo · grass, straw, thatch, herbs
民: mín · people, subjects, citizens

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

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Mandarin tones

3–2 · cao3 min2

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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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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

noun

(the worthless) ordinary people; commoner; plebeian; civilian; everyday person; person of humble birth

pron

(historical, humble, self-deprecatory) I (used by a commoner when addressing the emperor or an official)

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

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