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不見天日

简不见天日 · 繁不見天日

Mandarin · pinyin bù jiàn tiān rì

all black, no daylight (idiom); a world without justice

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Characters in this entry

不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
見: jiàn · see, observe, behold; perceive; Kangxi radical 147
天: tiān · sky, heaven; god, celestial
日: rì · sun; day; daytime
见: jiàn · see, observe, behold; perceive

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

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Mandarin tones

4–4–1–4 · bu4 jian4 tian1 ri4

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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.

不見天日 · find source passages ↗ · 不见天日 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

bat1 gin3 tin1 jat6

Cantonese word readings for 不見天日. 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.

phrase

(figuratively) to live in a world of injustice
(figuratively) to keep something secret

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

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