DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

不知好歹

Mandarin · pinyin bù zhī hǎo dǎi

unable to differentiate good from bad (idiom)
not to know what's good for one
unable to recognize others' good intentions

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Characters in this entry

不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
知: zhī · know, perceive, comprehend
好: hǎo · good, excellent, fine; well
歹: dǎi · bad, vicious, depraved, wicked

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

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Mandarin tones

4–1–3–3 · bu4 zhi1 hao3 dai3

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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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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

phrase

(idiomatic) cannot tell good from bad; to mistake good for bad; to be unable to see others' good intentions

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

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