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不

Mandarin · pinyin bù

Meanings

  1. no; not so
  2. (bound form) not; un-
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Characters in this entry

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

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Mandarin tones

4 · bu4

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1character link34same-tone records
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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 Rime · Wiktionary

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

bat1 · fau2 · pei1

Cantonese word readings for 不. 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.

character · Etymology 1

  1. (preceding verbs and adjectives) not; un-; in-; il-; im-; ir-
  2. (between a verb and a complement) cannot
  3. no (answer to a yes-no question)
  4. Used with 就 (jiù) to indicate the first of two alternatives.
  5. (colloquial) Used to form polar questions, placed at the end of a question.
  6. (abbreviation, alt-of) short for 不丹 (Bùdān, “Bhutan”)
  7. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) Meaningless particle used in poems and other texts.

character · Etymology 2

  1. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) alternative form of 否 (negation and question particle)

character · Etymology 3

  1. a surname

character · Etymology 4

  1. original form of 柎 (fū, “calyx”)

character · Etymology 5

  1. only used in 不不鐙兒 /不不镫儿 (būbūdèngr).

character · Etymology 6

  1. (Southern Min) alternative form of 毋

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

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