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不遺餘力

简不遗余力 · 繁不遺餘力

Mandarin · pinyin bù yí yú lì

to spare no pains or effort (idiom); to do one's utmost

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Characters in this entry

不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
遺: Look up this written character
餘: Look up this written character
力: lì · power, capability, influence; Kangxi radical 19
遗: yí · lose; articles lost; omit
余: yú · I, my, me; surname; surplus

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

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Mandarin tones

4–2–2–4 · bu4 yi2 yu2 li4

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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.

不遺餘力 · find source passages ↗ · 不遗余力 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

bat1 wai4 jyu4 lik6

Cantonese word readings for 不遺餘力. 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 do all one can; to do one's utmost; to spare no effort; to go all-out

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

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