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菜包子

Mandarin · pinyin cài bāo zi

steamed bun stuffed with vegetables
(fig.) useless person
a good-for-nothing

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Characters in this entry

菜: cài · vegetables; dish, order; food
包: bāo · wrap, pack, bundle; package
子: zǐ · offspring, child; fruit, seed of; first earthly branch

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

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Mandarin tones

4–1–5 · cai4 bao1 zi5

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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 · 2 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

coi3 baau1 zi2

Cantonese word readings for 菜包子. 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.

noun

vegetable steamed bun
(derogatory) good-for-nothing; useless person

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

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