DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

不務正業

简不务正业 · 繁不務正業

Mandarin · pinyin bù wù zhèng yè

not to engage in honest work
to ignore one's proper occupation
not to attend to one's proper duties

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Characters in this entry

不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
務: Look up this written character
正: zhèng · right, proper, correct
業: Look up this written character
务: wù · affairs, business; must, should
业: yè · profession, business; GB radical 111

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

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Mandarin tones

4–4–4–4 · bu4 wu4 zheng4 ye4

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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.

不務正業 · find source passages ↗ · 不务正业 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

bat1 mou6 zing3 jip6

Cantonese word readings for 不務正業. 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 not do an honest day's work; to not live by honest labor
(idiomatic) to disregard one's real occupation; to not attend to one's proper duties

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

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