不得其門而入
简 不得其门而入 · 繁 不得其門而入Meanings
- to be unable to get into (a house, an organization, a field of study, a particular type of career etc)
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Mandarin tones
4–2–2–2–2–4 · bu4 de2 qi2 men2 er2 ru4
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
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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.
不得其門而入 · find source passages ↗ · 不得其门而入 · find source passages ↗
Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading
Rime Cantonese 粵拼
bat1 dak1 kei4 mun4 ji4 jap6
Cantonese word readings for 不得其門而入. 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 have an "in"; to be unable to crack into (a market); to try to find an in without any success; to be unable to gain entrance
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack