DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT
開刀
简 开刀 · 繁 開刀Mandarin · pinyin kāi dāo
Meanings
- (of a surgeon) to perform an operation
- (of a patient) to have an operation
- to decapitate
- to behead
- to single out as a point of attack
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Mandarin tones
1–1 · kai1 dao1
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
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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.
Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 7 senses · 1 Cantonese reading
Rime Cantonese 粵拼
hoi1 dou1
Cantonese word readings for 開刀. 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
- (colloquial) to perform (or undergo) a (medical) operation (with the use of a scalpel or similar instrument)
- (Mandarin, Gan, Northern Min, Taiwanese Hokkien, figuratively) to make somebody the first target of attack or punishment (as an example)
- (Guangfu Cantonese) to take advantage of somebody's weakness to overcharge them; to make somebody pay through the nose
- (Guangzhou Cantonese) to cut open (a fish) to sell
- (Taiwanese Hokkien) to pull a knife
- (figuratively) to fire; to sack
- (archaic) to behead; to decapitate
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
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