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冒大不韙

简冒大不韪 · 繁冒大不韙

Mandarin · pinyin mào dà bù wěi

(idiom) to face opprobrium

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Characters in this entry

冒: mào · risk, brave, dare
大: dà · big, great, vast, large, high
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
韙: Look up this written character
韪: wěi · right; proper; propriety

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

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Mandarin tones

4–4–4–3 · mao4 da4 bu4 wei3

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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.

冒大不韙 · find source passages ↗ · 冒大不韪 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

mou6 daai6 bat1 wai5

Cantonese word readings for 冒大不韙. 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 act in defiance of universal condemnation

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

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