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表面上

Mandarin · pinyin biǎo miàn shang

outwardly; superficially; on the face of it

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Characters in this entry

表: biǎo · show, express, manifest, display
面: miàn · face; surface; plane; side, dimension; Kangxi radical 176
上: shàng · top; superior, highest; go up, send up

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

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Mandarin tones

3–4–5 · biao3 mian4 shang5

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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 · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

biu2 min6 soeng6

Cantonese word readings for 表面上. 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.

adv

on the surface; seeming as if; apparently; superficially

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

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