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宫商角徵羽

gōng shāng jué zhǐ yǔdictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
pre-Tang names of the five notes of the pentatonic scale, corresponding roughly to do, re, mi, sol, la
Sources & editorial notes

Reference definitions: CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source release 2026-10-27T01:55:52Z. Imported 2026-10-27. Definition wording and meaning order are retained. Recognized pronunciation references are displayed with tone marks; the original source record is available below.

Source record: cd-40a562271f836501. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

宮商角徵羽 宫商角徵羽 [gong1 shang1 jue2 zhi3 yu3] /pre-Tang names of the five notes of the pentatonic scale, corresponding roughly to do, re, mi, sol, la/

Reference definitions and teaching material have separate provenance.

Reference information

The definitions above are from CC-CEDICT. Examples and usage notes are available on selected entries.

Character information

View the individual characters. Their meanings do not necessarily explain the meaning of the whole word.

Other forms in these source records: 宮商角徵羽

  • 宫
    gōng

    palace / temple / castration (as corporal punishment) / first note in pentatonic scale

    Gōng

    surname Gong

  • 商
    shāng

    commerce / merchant / dealer / to consult / 2nd note in pentatonic scale / quotient (as in 智商[zhì shāng], intelligence quotient)

    Shāng

    Shang Dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC) / surname Shang

  • 角
    jiǎo

    angle / corner / horn / horn-shaped / unit of money equal to 0.1 yuan, or 10 cents (a dime) / CL:個|个[gè]

    jué

    role (theater) / to compete / ancient three legged wine vessel / third note of pentatonic scale

    Jué

    surname Jue

  • 徵
    zhēng

    to invite / to recruit / to levy (taxes) / to draft (troops) / phenomenon / symptom / characteristic sign (used as proof) / evidence

    zhǐ

    4th note in the ancient Chinese pentatonic scale 五音[wǔ yīn], corresponding to sol

  • 羽
    yǔ

    feather / 5th note in pentatonic scale

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.