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不吐不快

Mandarin · pinyin bù tǔ bù kuài

to have to pour out what's on one's mind (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
吐: tǔ · vomit, spew out, cough up
快: kuài · rapid, quick, speedy, fast; soon

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

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Mandarin tones

4–3–4–4 · bu4 tu3 bu4 kuai4

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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 · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

bat1 tou3 bat1 faai3

Cantonese word readings for 不吐不快. 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 have to get something off one's chest; to have to say something to feel comfortable

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack