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不為已甚

简不为已甚 · 繁不為已甚

Mandarin · pinyin bù wéi yǐ shèn

refrain from going to extremes in meting out punishment
not be too hard on subject

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Characters in this entry

不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
為: Look up this written character
已: yǐ · already; finished; stop
甚: shèn · great extent; considerably
为: wèi · do, handle, govern, act; be

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

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Mandarin tones

4–2–3–4 · bu4 wei2 yi3 shen4

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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.

不為已甚 · find source passages ↗ · 不为已甚 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense

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 go too far; to refrain from going to extremes; to never go beyond reasonable limits

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

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