冒天下之大不韙
简 冒天下之大不韪 · 繁 冒天下之大不韙Meanings
Characters in this entry
- 冒
- mào · risk, brave, dare
- 天
- tiān · sky, heaven; god, celestial
- 下
- xià · under, underneath, below; down; inferior; bring down
- 之
- zhī · marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to
- 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
Explore the spelling
Mandarin tones
4–1–4–1–4–4–3 · mao4 tian1 xia4 zhi1 da4 bu4 wei3
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
Connected dictionary
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.
冒天下之大不韙 · find source passages ↗ · 冒天下之大不韪 · find source passages ↗
Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading
Rime Cantonese 粵拼
mou6 tin1 haa6 zi1 daai6 bat1 wai5
Cantonese word readings for 冒天下之大不韙. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.
CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack
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
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack