DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

貢生

简贡生 · 繁貢生

Mandarin · pinyin gòng shēng

candidate for the Imperial Examination proposed by a tributary state

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

貢: Look up this written character
生: shēng · life, living, lifetime; birth
贡: gòng · offer tribute; tribute, gifts

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

4–1 · gong4 sheng1

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

2character links1same-tone record

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

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.

貢生 · find source passages ↗ · 贡生 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

noun

(historical) tribute student; one of the top performers within the shengyuan (生員／生员) class who is sent to be a student at the Guozijian

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

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