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表意文字

Mandarin · pinyin biǎo yì wén zì

ideograph
ideographical writing system

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Characters in this entry

表: biǎo · show, express, manifest, display
意: yì · thought, idea, opinion; think
文: wén · literature, culture, writing
字: zì · letter, character, word

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

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Mandarin tones

3–4–2–4 · biao3 yi4 wen2 zi4

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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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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

biu2 ji3 man4 zi6

Cantonese word readings for 表意文字. 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

ideogram
ideographic writing system

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

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