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不如

Mandarin · pinyin bù rú

not equal to; not as good as; inferior to
it would be better to

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Characters in this entry

不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
如: rú · if, supposing; as if; like, as

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

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Mandarin tones

4–2 · bu4 ru2

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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 jyu4

Cantonese word readings for 不如. 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.

verb

to be not like; to be not equal to; to be not as good as; cannot compare to; to be inferior to

conj

it would be better to; might as well; let's

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

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