LookupMandarin · 繁體 · English

ChineseCharactersMeanings inMandarin–English · CC-CEDICTSources ↗

DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

不識大體

简不识大体 · 繁不識大體

Mandarin · pinyin bù shí dà tǐ

to fail to see the larger issue (idiom)
to fail to grasp the big picture

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
識: Look up this written character
大: dà · big, great, vast, large, high
體: tǐ · body; group, class, body, unit
识: shí · shì · recognize, understand, know
体: tǐ · body; group, class, body, unit; inferior

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

4–2–4–3 · bu4 shi2 da4 ti3

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

5character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

bat1 sik1 daai6 tai2

Cantonese word readings for 不識大體. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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

bat1 sik1 daai6 tai2

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

(idiomatic) to fail to see the larger issues; to ignore the general issues

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

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