DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

不通

Mandarin · pinyin bù tōng

to be obstructed
to be blocked up
to be impassable
to make no sense
to be illogical

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Characters in this entry

不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
通: tōng · pass through; common; communicate

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

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Mandarin tones

4–1 · bu4 tong1

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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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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 3 senses

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

verb · Etymology 1

to be obstructed; to be unable to get through
to not understand

adj · Etymology 1

(of writing) unclear and incoherent

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

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