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鮮

简 鲜 · 繁 鮮
Mandarin · pinyin xiān#

Meanings · xiān

  1. fresh
  2. bright (in color)
  3. delicious
  4. tasty
  5. delicacy
  6. aquatic foods
Mandarin · pinyin xiǎn#

Meanings · xiǎn

  1. few
  2. rare
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Characters in this entry

鮮
Look up this written character
鲜
xiān · fresh; delicious; attractive
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Entries containing 鮮 ↗Words written with 鮮 ↗Words written with 鲜 ↗

Mandarin tones

1 · xian1

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Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

1character link42same-tone records
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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.

鮮 · find source passages ↗ · 鲜 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Rime · Wiktionary

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

sin1 · sin2

Cantonese word readings for 鮮. 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.

character · Etymology 1

  1. seafood; aquatic food
  2. delicious food; fresh food
  3. fresh; not stale
  4. brightly colored; gaily colored
  5. delicious; tasty
  6. not yet withered; not yet wilted (of flowers, grass, etc.)
  7. special; peculiar; strange and interesting
  8. (Hakka) thin; dilute
  9. (Zhangzhou Hokkien) sky blue; azure
  10. a surname

character · Etymology 2

  1. rare; little; few
  2. rarely; infrequently
  3. to lack; to be short of
  4. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) alternative form of 巘 /𪩘 (yǎn, “the top of a mountain; cliff; small mountain”)

character · Etymology 3

  1. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) alternative form of 獻 /献 (“to offer; to present”)

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

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