DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

金鑰

简金钥 · 繁金鑰

Mandarin · pinyin jīn yào

the key (to solving a problem etc)
(Tw) (cryptography) key

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

金: jīn · gold; metals in general; money; Kangxi radical 167
鑰: Look up this written character
钥: yào · key; lock

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

1–4 · jin1 yao4

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.

金鑰 · find source passages ↗ · 金钥 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

noun

(Taiwan, countable, cryptography) key (Classifier: 個／个 m)

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

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