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不共戴天

Mandarin · pinyin bù gòng dài tiān

(idiom) (of enemies) cannot live under the same sky; absolutely irreconcilable

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Characters in this entry

不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
共: gòng · together with, all, total; to share
戴: dài · wear on top; support
天: tiān · sky, heaven; god, celestial

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

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Mandarin tones

4–4–4–1 · bu4 gong4 dai4 tian1

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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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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

bat1 gung6 daai3 tin1

Cantonese word readings for 不共戴天. 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.

phrase

(idiomatic) to be absolutely irreconcilable

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

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