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不溫不火

简不温不火 · 繁不溫不火

Mandarin · pinyin bù wēn bù huǒ

(of sales, TV show ratings etc) lukewarm
moderate
so-so
(of a person) calm
unruffled

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Characters in this entry

不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
溫: Look up this written character
火: huǒ · fire, flame; burn; anger, rage
温: wēn · lukewarm

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

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Mandarin tones

4–1–4–3 · bu4 wen1 bu4 huo3

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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.

不溫不火 · find source passages ↗ · 不温不火 · find source passages ↗

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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 be in a happy medium state; neither hot nor cold

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

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