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道歉

Mandarin · pinyin dào qiàn

to apologize

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Characters in this entry

道: dào · path, road, street; method, way
歉: qiàn · deficient, lacking, insufficient

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

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Mandarin tones

4–4 · dao4 qian4

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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 · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

dou6 hip3

Cantonese word readings for 道歉. 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 apologize

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

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