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頓挫

简顿挫 · 繁頓挫

Mandarin · pinyin dùn cuò

a transition (stop and change) in spoken sound, music or in brush strokes
a cadence
punctuated by a transition
with syncopated cadence (brush stroke in painting)

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Characters in this entry

頓: Look up this written character
挫: cuò · push down; chop down; grind
顿: dùn · pause, stop; bow, kowtow; arrange

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

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Mandarin tones

4–4 · dun4 cuo4

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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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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

verb

(of intonation, rhythm, musical notes, brush stroke in painting, etc.) to pause and turn
(chess) to perform a zwischenzug

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

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