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來歷不明

简来历不明 · 繁來歷不明

Mandarin · pinyin lái lì bù míng

(idiom) of unknown origin; of dubious background

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Characters in this entry

來: lái · come, coming; return, returning
歷: Look up this written character
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
明: míng · bright, light, brilliant; clear
来: lái · come, coming; return, returning
历: lì · history; calendar

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

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Mandarin tones

2–4–4–2 · lai2 li4 bu4 ming2

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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.

phrase

(idiomatic) of unknown origins

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

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