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不明

Mandarin · pinyin bù míng

not clear
unknown
to fail to understand

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Characters in this entry

不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
明: míng · bright, light, brilliant; clear

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

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Mandarin tones

4–2 · bu4 ming2

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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 ming4

Cantonese word readings for 不明. 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

(literary) to not understand
(literary) to not be clear; to not be known; to be unknown
(literary) to not shine
(literary) to be unenlightened; to lack wisdom

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

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