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要緊

简要紧 · 繁要緊

Mandarin · pinyin yào jǐn

important
urgent

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Characters in this entry

要: yào · necessary, essential; necessity
緊: Look up this written character
紧: jǐn · tense, tight, taut; firm, secure

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

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Mandarin tones

4–3 · yao4 jin3

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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.

要緊 · find source passages ↗ · 要紧 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 3 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

jiu3 gan2

Cantonese word readings for 要緊. 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.

adj

important; pressing; urgent
critical; serious

adv

(dialectal) in a hurry to; anxious to

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack