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賣身

简卖身 · 繁賣身

Mandarin · pinyin mài shēn

to prostitute oneself
to sell oneself into slavery

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Characters in this entry

賣: Look up this written character
身: shēn · body; trunk, hull; Kangxi radical 158
卖: mài · sell; betray; show off

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

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Mandarin tones

4–1 · mai4 shen1

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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.

賣身 · find source passages ↗ · 卖身 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

maai6 san1

Cantonese word readings for 賣身. 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.

verb

(intransitive, verb-object) to sell oneself into slavery
(intransitive, verb-object) to sell one's body for prostitution; to prostitute oneself

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

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