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不列顛

简不列颠 · 繁不列顛

Mandarin · pinyin Bù liè diān

Britain
British
Great Britain

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Characters in this entry

不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
列: liè · a line; to arrange in order, classify
顛: Look up this written character
颠: diān · top, peak, summit; upset

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

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Mandarin tones

4–4–1 · Bu4 lie4 dian1

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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.

不列顛 · find source passages ↗ · 不列颠 · find source passages ↗

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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.

name

(loosely) Britain (the United Kingdom, a kingdom and country in Northern Europe including the island of Great Britain as well as Northern Ireland on the northeastern portion of the island of Ireland)
Britain (great Britain, a large island (sometimes also including some of the surrounding smaller islands) off the north-west coast of Western Europe, made up of England, Scotland, and Wales; especially (but not exclusively) during antiquity)

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

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