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不倒翁

Mandarin · pinyin bù dǎo wēng

roly-poly toy

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Characters in this entry

不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
倒: dào · fall over; lie down; take turns
翁: wēng · old man; father, father-in-law

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

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Mandarin tones

4–3–1 · bu4 dao3 weng1

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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 · 2 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

bat1 dou3 jung1

Cantonese word readings for 不倒翁. 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.

noun

(literal) roly-poly toy (a toy that rights itself when pushed over)
(figurative) political survivor; irrepressible

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

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