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不足為外人道

简不足为外人道 · 繁不足為外人道

Mandarin · pinyin bù zú wèi wài rén dào

(idiom) no need to tell others; let's keep this between ourselves
also pr. bùzú wéi wàirén dào

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Characters in this entry

不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
足: zú · foot; attain, satisfy, enough; Kangxi radical 156
為: Look up this written character
外: wài · out, outside, external; foreign
人: rén · man; people; mankind; someone else
道: dào · path, road, street; method, way
为: wèi · do, handle, govern, act; be

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

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Mandarin tones

4–2–4–4–2–4 · bu4 zu2 wei4 wai4 ren2 dao4

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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.

不足為外人道 · find source passages ↗ · 不足为外人道 · find source passages ↗

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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) not fit to be told to others; no need to tell others; this is not to be mentioned to outsiders; this is strictly between ourselves

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

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