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不明覺厲

简不明觉厉 · 繁不明覺厲

Mandarin · pinyin bù míng jué lì

although I don't understand it, it seems pretty awesome (Internet slang)

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Characters in this entry

不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
明: míng · bright, light, brilliant; clear
覺: Look up this written character
厲: Look up this written character
觉: jué · to wake up from sleep; conscious
厉: lì · whetstone; grind, sharpen; whet

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

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Mandarin tones

4–2–2–4 · bu4 ming2 jue2 li4

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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.

不明覺厲 · find source passages ↗ · 不明觉厉 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

bat1 ming4 gok3 lai6

Cantonese word readings for 不明覺厲. 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

(Mainland China, neologism, Internet slang) Although I don't know what you are saying or doing, I think you are (or it is) amazing.

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

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