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西文

Mandarin · pinyin Xī wén

Spanish
Western language
foreign languages (in Qing times)

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西: xī · west(ern); westward; occident; Kangxi radical 146
文: wén · literature, culture, writing

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

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Mandarin tones

1–2 · Xi1 wen2

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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

sai1 man4

Cantonese word readings for 西文. 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 · Etymology 1

Western-language text; European-language text

noun · Etymology 2

(abbreviation, alt-of) short for 西班牙文 (Xībānyáwén, “Spanish”)

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

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