CANTONESE ↔ ENGLISH · CC-CANTO

蠶食鯨吞

简蚕食鲸吞 · 繁蠶食鯨吞

Cantonese · source Jyutpingcaam4 sik6 king4 tan1

to nibble at and gobble up; to seize territory using various means

About these definitions

Source definition segments, in their original order. Characters a definition cites are shown without their Mandarin pinyin; classifier lists that CC-Canto copied from CC-CEDICT are marked Mandarin. The community dictionary is not independently verified by zimai.

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Reading & tones

caam44 · low fallingsik66 · low levelchecked · -kking44 · low fallingtan11 · high level

Schematic citation-tone diagrams from the source numbers. These are not recordings or predictions of connected speech.

Same syllable, six tones

caam参caam1to take part in 惨caam2miserable 杉caam3China fir 馋caam4gluttonouscaam5—caam6—

sik色sik1colorsik2—sik3—sik4—sik5—食sik6to eat

king倾king1to overturn 顷king2unit of area equal to 100 亩mǔ [亩] or 6.67 hectaresking3—琼king4jasperking5—king6—

tan吞tan1to swallowtan2—褪tan3to retreattan4—tan5—tan6—

Characters whose customary Unihan reading (kCantonese) is this syllable in each tone, chosen as in the tone atlas (2013 standard level, then the number of CC-CEDICT words they form), with CC-Canto 2017's meaning for that reading; a dash means no catalogue character has that reading. Checked syllables (-p, -t, -k) normally carry tones 1, 3 and 6. Character readings, not word readings; no frequency implied.

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Written characters

蠶食鯨吞蚕鲸

Both source spellings are represented. Written membership is not an etymological or semantic claim.

Cantonese characters and the Mandarin bridge ↗

Mandarin comparison · separate source entries

CC-CEDICT, the Mandarin–English dictionary, lists the same written form:

蠶食鯨吞 cán shí jīng tūn CC-CEDICT · Mandarin(lit.) to nibble like a silkworm or swallow like a whale (idiom); (fig.) to seize (territory etc) incrementally or wholesale

A separate source entry, shown for comparison. The same characters can carry different senses in Mandarin and in Cantonese; zimai does not align these senses.

CC-Canto includes this pinyin reference: can2 shi2 jing1 tun1. It does not establish a Mandarin word with the same meaning.

Look up this spelling in the Mandarin dictionary ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

caam4 sik6 king4 tan1

Cantonese word readings for 蠶食鯨吞. 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.

phrase

(idiomatic) to seize another country's territory by piecemeal encroachment or wholesale annexation

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

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