DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

不知天高地厚

Mandarin · pinyin bù zhī tiān gāo dì hòu

not to know the immensity of heaven and earth
an exaggerated opinion of one's own abilities

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
知: zhī · know, perceive, comprehend
天: tiān · sky, heaven; god, celestial
高: gāo · high, tall; lofty, elevated; Kangxi radical 189
地: de · dì · earth; soil, ground; region
厚: hòu · thick; substantial; greatly

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

4–1–1–1–4–4 · bu4 zhi1 tian1 gao1 di4 hou4

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

6character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

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.

不知天高地厚 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Rime · Wiktionary

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

bat1 zi1 tin1 gou1 dei6 hau5

Cantonese word readings for 不知天高地厚. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(idiomatic) to have an exaggerated opinion of one's abilities; to think one knows everything; to be ignorant

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack