不止

Mandarin · pinyin bù zhǐ

Meanings

  1. incessantly
  2. without end
  3. more than
  4. not limited to
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Characters in this entry

不
bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
止
zhǐ · stop, halt, desist; detain
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–3 · bu4 zhi3

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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.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 6 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

bat1 zi2

Cantonese word readings for 不止. 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.

verb

  1. to not stop
  2. to be no less than; to exceed

adv

  1. incessantly; without end; nonstop
  2. not only; not merely
  3. (Mainland China Hokkien) quite; rather; considerably

conj

  1. not only; not merely

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

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