客 串

kè chuàndictionary entry

to appear on stage in an amateur capacity / (of a professional) to make a guest appearance / (fig.) to assume a role outside one's usual duties / to substitute for

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-8e5493893cb6f98b. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

客串 客串 [ke4 chuan4] /to appear on stage in an amateur capacity/(of a professional) to make a guest appearance/(fig.) to assume a role outside one's usual duties; to substitute for/

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.

客
kè
customer / visitor / guest / classifier for servings or portions (when ordering food)
串
chuàn
to string together / to skewer / to connect wrongly / to gang up / to rove / string / bunch / skewer / classifier for things that are strung together, or in a bunch, or in a row: string of, bunch of, series of / to make a swift or abrupt linear movement (like a bead on an abacus) / to move across

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.