DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

不識大體

简不识大体 · 繁不識大體

Mandarin · pinyin bù shí dà tǐ

to fail to see the larger issue (idiom)
to fail to grasp the big picture

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Characters in this entry

不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
識: Look up this written character
大: dà · big, great, vast, large, high
體: tǐ · body; group, class, body, unit
识: shí · shì · recognize, understand, know
体: tǐ · body; group, class, body, unit; inferior

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

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Mandarin tones

4–2–4–3 · bu4 shi2 da4 ti3

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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.

不識大體 · find source passages ↗ · 不识大体 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

bat1 sik1 daai6 tai2

Cantonese word readings for 不識大體. 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

(idiomatic) to fail to see the larger issues; to ignore the general issues

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

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