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開竅

简开窍 · 繁開竅

Mandarin · pinyin kāi qiào

to get it straight
to start to understand things properly
enlightenment dawns

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Characters in this entry

開: kāi · open; initiate, begin, start
竅: Look up this written character
开: kāi · open; initiate, begin, start
窍: qiào · hole, opening, aperture

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

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Mandarin tones

1–4 · kai1 qiao4

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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.

開竅 · find source passages ↗ · 开窍 · find source passages ↗

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

hoi1 hiu3

Cantonese word readings for 開竅. 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

(traditional Chinese medicine) to open the body orifices
(figurative) to be enlightened; to begin to understand
(figurative, of a child) to begin to know things

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

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