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似懂非懂

Mandarin · pinyin sì dǒng fēi dǒng

Meanings

  1. to not really understand
  2. to half-understand
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Characters in this entry

似
sì · resemble, similar to; as if, seem
懂
dǒng · understand, comprehend
非
fēi · not, negative, non-; oppose; Kangxi radical 175
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Entries containing 似懂非懂 ↗Words written with 似 ↗Words written with 懂 ↗Words written with 非 ↗

Mandarin tones

4–3–1–3 · si4 dong3 fei1 dong3

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Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

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Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.
Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

ci5 dung2 fei1 dung2

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 not really understand; to half-understand

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

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