DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

責

简责 · 繁責

Mandarin · pinyin zé

duty
responsibility
to reproach
to blame

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Characters in this entry

責: Look up this written character
责: zé · one's responsibility, duty

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

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Mandarin tones

2 · ze2

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1character link26same-tone records

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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.

責 · find source passages ↗ · 责 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 9 senses · 2 Cantonese readings

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

zaai3 · zaak3

Cantonese word readings for 責. 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.

character

to demand; to ask for (something)
to demand to; to order to
to blame; to reproach
to interrogate; to question closely
to punish by beating
duty; responsibility
(Hakka) to thrust; to poke with finger
(Mainland China Hokkien) to look into; to investigate

character

(obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) original form of 債／债 (zhài, “debt; loan”)

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

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