不到長城非好漢
简 不到长城非好汉 · 繁 不到長城非好漢Meanings
- lit. until you reach the Great Wall, you're not a proper person; fig. to get over difficulties before reaching the goal
Characters in this entry
- 不
- bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
- 到
- dào · go to, arrive, been to
- 長
- zhǎng · long; length; excel in; leader; Kangxi radical 168
- 城
- chéng · castle; city, town; municipality
- 非
- fēi · not, negative, non-; oppose; Kangxi radical 175
- 好
- hǎo · good, excellent, fine; well
- 漢
- Look up this written character
- 长
- zhǎng · long; length; excel in; leader
- 汉
- hàn · Chinese people; Chinese language
Explore the spelling
Mandarin tones
4–4–2–2–1–3–4 · bu4 dao4 Chang2 cheng2 fei1 hao3 han4
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
Connected dictionary
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.
不到長城非好漢 · find source passages ↗ · 不到长城非好汉 · find source passages ↗
Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading
Rime Cantonese 粵拼
bat1 dou3 coeng4 sing4 fei1 hou2 hon3
Cantonese word readings for 不到長城非好漢. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.
CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack
Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section
Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.
phrase
- (figurative) One should not give up until one succeeds.
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack