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不行

Mandarin · pinyin bù xíng

won't do
be out of the question
be no good
not work
not be capable

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Characters in this entry

不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
行: xíng · go; walk; move, travel; circulate; Kangxi radical 144

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

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Mandarin tones

4–2 · bu4 xing2

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2character links1same-tone record

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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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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

bat1 hang4

Cantonese word readings for 不行. 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.

adj

unacceptable; out of the question; won't do
no good; poor; incapable; incompetent

verb

(euphemistic) to be about to die, (usually followed by 了)
(archaic) to not implement; to not put into practice; to not practice

adv

awfully; a lot; terribly

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

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