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八竿子打不著

简八竿子打不着 · 繁八竿子打不著

Mandarin · pinyin bā gān zi dǎ bù zháo

(coll.) unrelated; lacking any connection

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Characters in this entry

八: bā · eight; all around, all sides
竿: gān · bamboo pole; penis
子: zǐ · offspring, child; fruit, seed of; first earthly branch
打: dǎ · strike, hit, beat; fight; attack
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
著: zhù · zhe · manifest; (Cant.) to wear
着: zhe · make move, take action

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

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Mandarin tones

1–1–5–3–4–2 · ba1 gan1 zi5 da3 bu4 zhao2

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7character links1same-tone record

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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.

八竿子打不著 · find source passages ↗ · 八竿子打不着 · 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

(colloquial) barely related; far off

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

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