1.(orthography) inconsistent words (e.g. "through", "bough" and "rough", where "-ough" is not pronounced the same in each case)2.inconsistent characters (e.g. 流[liú], 梳[shū] and 毓[yù], which are pronounced differently from each other even though they all have the same notional phonetic component)
1.a policy expressed as an eight-character slogan2.(esp.) the eight-character slogan for the economic policy proposed by Li Fuchun 李富春[lǐ fù chūn] in 1961: 調整、鞏固、充實、调整、巩固、充实、提高[tiáo zhěng gǒng gù chōng shí tí gāo] "adjust, consolidate, enrich and improve"
Hanyu Da Zidian, one of the most comprehensive Chinese character dictionaries with 54,678 (and later 60,370) entries, first published between 1986-1990