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不得要領

简 不得要领 · 繁 不得要領
Mandarin · pinyin bù dé yào lǐng

Meanings

  1. to fail to grasp the main points
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Characters in this entry

不
bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
得
dé · obtain, get, gain, acquire
要
yào · necessary, essential; necessity
領
Look up this written character
领
lǐng · neck; collar; lead, guide
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Entries containing 不得要領 ↗Words written with 不 ↗Words written with 得 ↗Words written with 要 ↗Words written with 領 ↗Words written with 领 ↗

Mandarin tones

4–2–4–3 · bu4 de2 yao4 ling3

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

bat1 dak1 jiu3 ling5

Cantonese word readings for 不得要領. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

bat1 dak1 jiu3 ling5

Pleco · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Word reading; meanings not aligned.

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

phrase

  1. (idiomatic) to fail to grasp the main points

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

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