半懂不懂

Mandarin · pinyin bàn dǒng bù dǒng

Meanings

  1. to not fully understand
  2. to only partly understand
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Characters in this entry

半
bàn · half
懂
dǒng · understand, comprehend
不
bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–3–4–3 · ban4 dong3 bu4 dong3

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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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